Only Time Will Tell
by Anrixan
Summary: What happens when Yuna returns to Zanarkand after living in Bevelle for five years? Can a friendship be rebuilt? Only time will tell.... Warning: AU. Don't like AU? Don't read. Simple as that
1. I

**May 3rd, 2006. **

**First things first... this is an AU!High School fic. If you don't like these, don't read it. I don't want to read a comment by you complaining. I honestly thought that I never would write another high school fic... but I truly did enjoy writing _Zanarkand A-East_ last year. I can't believe it's already been over a year since I finished that fic, but it's still one of my favorite things that I have written. I... actually posted this fic a while ago, but took it off because I couldn't get into the spirit of writing it. I was busy with school, and also, this is a 'end of the school year, yay summer' fic and I posted it in like October. Go me on my excellent timing. But now that it IS summer, I wanted to start a 'summer' project. Therefore, this fic was brought out again, dusted off, and revamped a little bit. **

**The fic is going to be in two different point of views, switching off every chapter. The first chapter is in Yuna's point of view, and the second in Tidus'. I have never written anything in a dual point of view, so I'm interested to see how it's going to turn out. I honestly don't know! To me, it's interesting to see just how different the characters are... meaning I will be able to write certain scenes in two different points of view. So, it's like a writing activity for myself and hopefully I can put out a decent fic at the same time. **

**Anyway, enough of my rambling, I'm so sorry that this was such a long introduction. I hope you enjoy reading!**

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**Only Time Will Tell**

**I**

"We're trapped!" My cousin Rikku whispered to me as we frantically looked around to find a way out. "Is there any way we can escape?"

I looked at all the doors, but there wasn't any way that we were going to get past the people. "No!" I whispered back with a slight whimper. "There are way too many Yevonites! We'd definitely get caught!"

"Even the back door?" She asked, grabbing onto my arm as she waited for an answer. I hesitated so the Yevonites wouldn't get suspicious to why I was looking around, then shook my head toward her.

"It's heavily guarded," I said in defeat. "There's nothing else we can do except stay here and accept our fate."

There was a loud tapping that surrounded us, followed by a low, gravely voice. "I-Is this thing on?" Rikku and I both covered our ears as a loud screeching sound followed the voice. When it was over, Rikku crossed her arms and sat further back in her seat. "Oh my! I'm terribly sorry! C-Can everyone hear me?"

Several people around me muttered responses and I had to roll my eyes. It was the last day of school, and the last place any of us wanted to be was in the auditorium listening to Principal Mika give us the 'You all did well and I'm proud of you' speech like he did every year. Principal Mika was a very nice man, but he was rather old…not to mention a little bit senile. He continued to tap the microphone, not realizing that it was producing feedback and making us all deaf in the process. I shuddered at the thought of last year's end of the year speech; he rambled on for so long that even Vice Principal Kinoc was nodding off.

"Well, how about standing up and shouting 'fire?'" Rikku suggested as she leaned in closer to me. "It certainly would clear out the place rather quickly."

"Yeah, then Principal Mika would have a heart attack right on stage, that's a great idea," I said, putting my hand to my forehead. As absurd as her suggestion was, it probably was the only way that we would be able to get out of there. However, I didn't want to end my junior year of high school in the principal's office. Not only did that mean I would have to spend more time with Principal Mika, but my father would be less than thrilled. Being the High Summoner's daughter, I had to maintain a perfect record or else it would be plastered all over the news. I guess I can say that I'm used it by now, but it's still not easy. With a sigh, I rubbed my forehead with my fingertips. "Besides, I don't want the headlines in the Bevelle Times to be 'High Summoner's daughter causes chaos in high school assembly.'"

"'Kay fine," Rikku mumbled with a pout. "I can't believe you're actually going to sit here for the entire time."

I smiled at her then looked back up toward the stage. This was her first speech that she had to endure because she was only a freshman, but I knew that she would live. Biting the inside of my cheek, I took another look around and noticed that there were already four people sleeping. They were smart. I was about to slouch in my seat and close my eyes when I felt a tap on the top of my head. I turned around and saw Baralai smiling at me. I couldn't help the butterflies that suddenly appeared in my stomach. Although he and I had only been going out for a short period of time, I was crazy about him. It was odd though; he was a senior and graduating in a few days, but somehow it didn't seem like he was older than I.

Everyone in Bevelle knew about the relationship of Baralai and I. The media claimed that it was Yevon's blessing that we were together. Baralai's dad was the Praetor of Bevelle, so he and my father worked together. It's merely coincidence that Baralai and I ended up together; there wasn't anything arranged. Rikku still was convinced that my father and the Praetor set the two of us up, but Baralai and I met on our own. We were in the same physics class this semester and we were partners. Again, something that Rikku claims was done on purpose, but I like to call it fate.

"So, I think I can see Mika getting older with each word that he says," Baralai quipped with a quiet chuckle. I smiled back at him and he pecked me on the cheek before leaning back in his seat.

"Eew!" Rikku groaned as she gave me a gentle push. I knew that she was joking for she was always supportive of the relationship that Baralai and I had, but I still scrunched up my nose at her.

Principal Mika cleared his throat then looked over toward the side of the stage. "Now, we have a very special guest!" A few people around me groaned, and I found myself doing the same. A 'special guest' meant a longer assembly. "Please give a warm welcome to High Summoner Braska!"

My eyes went wide as I sat up straight in my seat, gripping the arm rests tightly with my fingers. I certainly wasn't expecting this. Usually if my daddy was giving a speech at my school, which happened quite often actually, I knew about it before hand. I knew what he was going to say, when he was going to say it, and I made sure that he wasn't going to say anything that was going to embarrass me. There have been quite a few times where he started to talk about me on the sphere and it branched out into an embarrassing childhood story. Like the one time he explained to Spira what happened when I received a bathing suit for my birthday and decided to turn the living room into a beach by pouring powdered laundry detergent on the carpeting. My face turned a darker pink at the memory and I watched my dad make his way to the podium.

"Hello, everyone!" My father said, his cheery disposition waking everyone up. He was a lot more exciting than Principal Mika, that's for sure. My father was very well loved, but no one loved him more than I did. "I know you all know how well you did this year, so I'm going to just skip all that boring stuff and talk about more interesting subjects."

"Your dad is so great," Rikku stated with a smile. I felt myself blush as I nodded.

Unfortunately, his speech wasn't all that entertaining to me. Everything that he talked about he had mentioned on the news the previous night, but I'm sure he was just keeping the students up to date about everything. Thankfully he didn't preach as much as he did on the news for I went to a public school, but he still talked about the extensive research that was being done on Sin and stuff like that. My father and the Praetor had been researching this for many months now and they had a major breakthrough of what could've caused the attacks many years ago. They didn't know _what_ caused the attacks, but they did notice that there was a pattern of when Sin attacked and where it attacked. The last attack occurred several months ago, several miles off of the Zanarkand coast, and that was enough to put all the puzzle pieces into place.

Surprisingly, most of the students in the auditorium were listening intensively, but I've already heard all of this a million times. I was always curious to what my father did, so I constantly asked and he always told me exactly what he was up to.

Everyone applauded him as concluded his speech and a lot of students looked at me and complimented on him. Thankfully the conclusion of my father's speech was the conclusion of the assembly, so everyone started to get up and leave. The lights slowly turned back on and Rikku leaped out of her seat.

"Finally the nightmare ends!" She squealed, bouncing on her toes with excitement. "That means that school is over now! We're free! We're able to have three months without homework, waking up early, or boring speeches from old men!"

I laughed at her and we met up with Baralai. "Your dad's speech was awesome, Yuna," he said, giving me another kiss on the cheek as I put my hand in his. "I wish my dad's speeches were half as entertaining as your dad's."

Sad but true, the Praetor was a very dry man. He lacked in the humor department, which was why it strikes me as strange that my father and the Praetor were best friends. Baralai was completely the opposite of his father though. He was actually a lot like my dad. That's kind of a frightening thought, but I've gotten over it.

"So, now that school is officially out, what are we going to do first?" Rikku asked, her voice straining a bit. We were trying to squeeze our way out of the hallway and it was like the Pilgrimage Highway during rush hour. There were so many students at Bevelle North that we were all shoulder to shoulder. The administration tried to make it an orderly process, but they knew it was useless because we were all so excited to get out of the school and start our summer. Especially since we just had to listen to Principal Mika for 45 minutes, we were all rather restless.

"I'm thinking that we should just go back to my house and have ice cream or something," I suggested with a shrug of my shoulders. Well, it was the best attempt at a shrug that I could do because I could barely move. "Nothing like a celebratory ice cream cone!"

"Works for me!" Baralai said as we finally walked through the doors and into the sunlight. I was just about to comment on the beautiful weather before something smacked Rikku on the back of the head.

She stumbled forward, yet somehow managed to keep her footing as she screamed, "ow!" We all looked behind us to see Gippal practically rolling with laughter. With a huff, Rikku grabbed the blitzball that Gippal threw at her and propped it up on her hip. "Very cute, Gippal."

"It's a gift," he replied with his trademark cocky smile. He walked closer to the three of us and ruffled Rikku's hair. He reached for the blitzball in Rikku's hands and she struggled to keep it away from him. The two of them had lived next door to each other since they were born and they were the best of friends. They had an odd friendship though; they were fighting more than they were getting along. Of course, I knew deep down inside that they would be friends forever. I had that feeling about someone once, but I can't control everything…

"We're going over Yuna's house, wanna come?" Baralai squeezed my shoulder as he spoke, breaking my train of thought. I shook the thoughts away and smiled at Gippal. I didn't mind that Baralai was inviting people over my house, he practically lived there and I knew my daddy wouldn't mind.

"You driving?" Gippal asked, still straining for the ball, and Baralai nodded. All four of us had our licenses, but Baralai was the only one who was able to drive to school because he was a senior. "Sure, count me in. Give it back, Rikku!"

"You shouldn't have thrown it in the first place then!" She countered, her green eyes flaring. With a strong tug, Gippal grabbed the ball back and Rikku fell on the ground. "You punk."

"Where are you parked, B?" Gippal asked, reaching his hand out to help Rikku get back on her feet. When she was about halfway off the ground, he let her go again, and she yelped when her butt met the ground again. We all started to laugh as she slowly got to her feet. "Sorry, Rikku, I just had to!"

"No, it's fine," she said as she fixed her hair. She flashed him a sly smile and before any of us knew what happened, she kicked him hard in the shin. He started to howl and she laughed at his pain. "Ha ha, serves you right!"

Baralai and I exchanged looks before we started to laugh, then we heard a car honk it's horn. We whipped around and saw my dad waving to all four of us. My face instantly flushed a bright red in embarrassment. "Yuna!"

"I guess I better go over there," I said, pointing in that direction with one hand and nervously putting a tendril of hair behind my ear with the other. The others nodded and as a group, we walked over there. "Hi, daddy."

"Great speech, High Summoner Braska." Baralai was always pleasant and respectful to my parents, and it always made me happy. I knew my parents really liked him and that made things a lot easier.

"Thank you, Baralai," my father said, shaking hands with him. He looked back at me and smiled. "You want a ride home, Yuna?"

I looked at Baralai and he shrugged. "Well, Baralai was going to give me a ride home, but if you want me to go with you, that works too." My father gave me a pleased smile and I looked back at Baralai, Rikku, and Gippal. "You guys can just meet me at my place. How's that?"

"Sound's great!" Rikku said.

"Actually," my father began as he took off his sunglasses. Before continuing, I heard him unlock the doors. "Yuna, why don't you just call your friends after dinner, okay? Your mother and I have some important things that we'd like to discuss with you."

I felt my face fall. Not only was I disappointed that I couldn't drive home with Rikku, Gippal, and Baralai, but I was kind of nervous to what my parents had to tell me. My father still had a smile on his face, so that was a good sign, but it seemed kind of urgent.

"Not a problem, High Summoner Braska," Baralai said with a nod of his head. I'm thankful that he said something because I wasn't sure what to say. "Yuna, I'll just give you a call later or something."

"Okay," I replied, giving him a quick hug. Even though my parents liked Baralai, I wasn't about to kiss him in front of one of them. "I'll call you after dinner."

"All right." He patted Gippal on the back before looking at me again. "I'll just hang out with these crazy Al Bhed until then. Bye, Yuna."

I quickly said good bye to the three of them then hopped into the passenger seat of my daddy's car. "I loved your speech today, daddy," I said as I gave him a kiss and a big hug.

"Thanks," he replied and put the car into reverse. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I was going to be giving a speech, but it was kind of a last minute thing. I just happened to come here on business then Vice Principal Kinoc suggested that I quickly prepare a speech. I could tell that everyone wasn't exactly interested in what Principal Mika had to say."

"It's just that he says the same thing every year!" I exclaimed with a giggle. "This year's speech was the same as last year, which was the same as the year before!"

"And it was the same speech that he gave when I went to Bevelle North and that was 19 years ago," my father added.

"Can't you force him to retire?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "Yuna, you know I can't do that. He'll retire one day and then everyone will be happy."

I nodded and tapped my toe inside my shoe to the beat of the song that was playing on the radio. I could see my father's smile grow wider out of the corner of my eye, so I lifted an eyebrow at him. "What are you hiding?"

He was thinking of what to say, so he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. After a second, he looked at me and asked, "Do you like it here in Bevelle, Yuna?"

"Of course I do!" I said happily as I looked around. We moved to from Zanarkand to Bevelle when I was eight because my father was given the position of High Summoner. I was devastated to leave at the time because I was moving away from all of my friends, but the move was for the better. "Bevelle's a great place! It's not too hot in the summer, not too cold in the winter. Oh, and the air is cleaner here and that helps with mom's allergies. I love it here."

"I'm happy to hear that," he replied. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to study the look on his face. He still had a smile on his face, but I could tell that something else was on his mind. "What is it, Yuna?"

"I'm thinking of asking you the same question."

"Ah, my own daughter knows me too well for my own good." With another chuckle, he merged into the left hand lane to pass a car that was going too slowly. "Well, the Praetor and I were talking and—"

"Oh no," I interrupted with a giggle. "Don't tell me that you and the Praetor are already planning Baralai and my wedding! We've been over this a million times! I'm still too young!"

"Nonsense, Yuna, you know I would never do that," he responded, shaking his head. I love twisting his words and teasing him about that. I could pretty much change any sentence that included the Praetor into my father setting up a wedding. "Like I was saying, the Praetor and I were talking last night about all the leads that we're starting to unravel about the past attacks of Sin. Every single one of them is pointing to Zanarkand."

I wasn't sure where he was going with this, so I played with sleeve on my shirt with my right hand and said, "Oh?"

"Yes, and I volunteered to spend a few weeks there." My jaw dropped and I let out a sound in protest.

"You're going to leave mom and I for a few weeks?" I asked, a whine in my voice. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"No, no, Yuna!" He said as he pulled into our driveway. "You and your mother are coming with me!" I wasn't sure what to say, so I froze in my seat. "Oh come on, don't look so shocked! It's not going to be a permanent move! I'm just going to talk to the priests in Zanarkand for a little while then we'll come back here, I promise."

"Zanarkand…" I whispered, half to myself.

"I talked to your mother last night when I came home and she and I thought you would be excited." I wasn't sure what I was feeling, so again I remained silent. "Just think of it as a short visit so you can see some people again. I mean, how long has it been since you've seen Tidus?"

At the sound of his name, I bowed my head. "It's…been a long time." He and I used to still talk on the phone or email each other, but it's been a few months since we've made any contact. I don't know what I was waiting for. I had Baralai now and I wasn't sure how to bring that up to him. Although Tidus and I had a strictly platonic friendship, he was no longer the only guy in my life. I wasn't sure how he was going to take the news, so I kind of avoided him. I say 'kind of' because it wasn't like he tried to contact me either. I guess we were both to blame.

"Why don't you give him a call tonight?" My father suggested as he took the keys out of the ignition and cupped my chin with his hand. "Maybe that'll put some excitement into you!"

"Yeah," I said with an attempted smile.

He kissed me on the forehead then unlocked the car doors. As he opened his door, he noticed that I wasn't moving. "Come on, let's get out of the car and into the air conditioning."

"What? Oh, yeah." I slowly opened the car door, stepped out, then followed him inside. I wasn't sure where my mom was at, but I told my dad that I would be up in my room. I needed a little time to think.


	2. II

**May 22, 2006. I'm surprised that it's taken me this long to update this fic, knowing I've had this chapter done for MONTHS. Well, mostly completely anyway. (...Since I pulled the fic in the first place, pretty much) I just needed to work on the ending and make sure that I liked it, ha. I just wanted to update something and since I have about 98327982357 projects that I'm in the middle of, I picked this one since it _was_ almost finished. I love writing moods. ANYWAY, as you can tell, this chapter is in Tidus' pov. I love writing him like this, hee hee. Such a difference from Yuna. Now I think I'm going to start working on the next few chapters because I know EXACTLY what I want to have happen in them. Enjoy!**

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**II**

I kept my eyes fixated on the clock to convince myself that time _hadn't_ stopped and the day _was_ moving along. Fuck, I hate school. Not to mention that it was the last day, so of course it went unnaturally slow. Somehow I was able to survive until last period, which was where I was now. I had already finished my final exam, but I couldn't leave until the bell rang; which was in three minutes and 42 seconds. When I handed in the exam, I was able to occupy myself by looking at the walls, but that bored me rather quickly. The walls in my chemistry room looked unnaturally bare because my professor took down the posters and previous projects that we had done to pass them all back, so there wasn't even anything interesting to look at.

Thirty seconds had gone by since I started to look at the clock. This was absolute torture. I didn't have any big plans for the afternoon, it was just the fact that I wouldn't be at school and wouldn't have to return for three months. Three glorious months of, what I liked to call, mental relaxation. The best part was that when I did return, I would be a senior. Just thinking about it made me excited for blitz season next year. I would finally be able to be captain! Coach Ohalland made some lame rule that only seniors could be captain, so I was only 'Junior Captain.' To me, it didn't sound as important, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. I was just bitter of that because I scored more goals than Bickson, who _was_ our captain. As a matter of fact, I scored _twice_ as many goals as he did.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw said asshole quickly finishing his test. What I mean by that was he was looking over Shelinda's shoulder and copying the answers, which was actually quite surprising. Not the fact that Bickson was cheating, that was basically expected, but the fact that Shelinda wasn't finished yet. I wasn't sure what was taking her so long; she was the smartest girl at our school. Smart and rather weird, but I figured those two traits kind of go hand in hand. I finished the exam in about an hour and 15 minutes _and_ I double checked to make sure that I didn't skip any. Not sure how well I did on it, but I really don't care. After a while I just started to fill in the bubble sheet and not even read the questions. I figured I had a 25 percent chance of getting the answer right. I had a C in the class, and that's all I needed to pass. Most blitz colleges only required a 2.0 grade point average, so I was fine.

Professor Auron cleared his throat loudly from his desk and when I looked over at him, I could see his glare was aimed at Bickson. Ha, he was caught cheating. Serves the bastard right. Bickson innocently smiled, then gave Auron the finger when he turned toward the opposite side of the room. Several other students snickered while the other half rolled their eyes. I was in the latter group. I tried to be civil with Bickson at first, then I realized that he's just an ass and gave up.

"All right, class," Professor Auron said, breaking the silence. "Please put your pencils down and hand in your test. Yes, Barthello, that means you as well."

The remaining students who still had their tests walked up to the front to put the papers on Auron's desk and I rested my elbows on my desk with a sigh. Flicking my eyes up to the clock again, I was able to see the second hand hit the 12. The bell rang loudly and I'm surprised I didn't jump out of my chair in excitement. It was a mad rush for the door to the hallway, but I managed to get through without any damage.

The hallway was extraordinarily loud as people ran out of their classrooms and threw their old papers in the air to celebrate the end of the year. As quickly as I could, I made my way through the sea of people to my locker and put in the combination. The faster I was able to get out of that school, the sooner summer vacation would technically start, and the happier I would be. I was just about to open my locker when I felt arms around me. I looked down at my stomach to see the nauseatingly perfect manicured nails and I knew that it was Lenne.

"Hey," I said, turning around and greeting her with a kiss. She was wearing those damn heels again so she was a little taller than me, but I got over and nibbled at her lower lip a little bit. She giggled as she tightened her hold on me to deepen the kiss.

"Hey, there's no tongue in school!" I whipped my head to see Botta, one of my teammates, shaking his finger at me. Just to spite him, I kissed Lenne again.

"Hey, Botta," she said and draped her arms around me. It wasn't like she was my girlfriend or anything, but it's more or less for show. It's typical for the blitz guys to date the cheerleaders, so we go along with it. I'll admit, it's mostly for the sex, but I get laid out of the deal, so I'm happy.

"Hey, Lenne," Botta replied, leaning against one of the lockers by mine. "So, Ti, you are going to Wakka's next Friday, right?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world!" I replied, shocked that he even had to get confirmation from me. Not only was Wakka another one of my teammates, but he and I had been friends since we were kids. We grew up in the same area, so we've always known each other and been extremely close.

"You're coming too, aren't you, Lenne?" She nodded at his question and he gave me a pat on the back. "Great! Well, hopefully I'll see you guys before Wakka's party, but if not, see ya!"

Lenne and I watched him walk away, then we faced each other again. "So, what are you doing now?" She asked me and I shrugged.

"Not sure," I replied, grabbing an old trigonometry test out of my locker and ripping it into little pieces. Throwing the pieces up in the air, I shut the locker door and began walking to my car, assuming that she was going to follow. "I'm probably going to work out or something."

A seductive smile swept across her face and she trailed her nails up my arm. "I can help you with that if you'd like…"

I couldn't help but smile back as I nodded. "Yeah, sure. You can come over later if you want. My 'rents might not be home, so I'll just leave the door unlocked. Come in whenever."

"Well, I might stop by, but don't count on it."

I knew she would, she was just trying to play coy with me. Then again, if she didn't come over, I really didn't care. There were many numbers that I could call if I wanted some sex. "I won't," I stated as she gave me a kiss and started to walk in the other direction. I watched her for a brief second, then shrugged and continued to walk to the parking lot.

"Yo, Tidus!"

Not expecting someone to shout my name, I whipped around. It was only Wakka, but he practically pounced on me once he reached me. "Hey, man."

"So, it's the first day of summer, ya?" He said, grabbing my shoulders before walking next to me. "What's the first thing you're going to do?"

I nonchalantly shrugged, for I really wasn't sure. "Dunno. Maybe watch the blitz game that's on this afternoon or something else that doesn't require a lot of thinking or moving. Tomorrow I'm going to the beach and playing blitz though, wanna come with?" He gave a nod and I smiled. "Awesome. That's basically all I have planned for this entire summer; relaxing and impressing the ladies by playing blitz."

"You're such a whore, Ti," he said with a shake of his head and I just proudly smiled.

"Whore is such a loose term," I clarified, reaching into my pockets to find my car keys. "I prefer to call myself sexually aware in this world."

"Call it whatever you like, but you know that sooner or later you're going to have to do something about Lenne." I quirked an eyebrow at him as we reached my car and I unlocked my door. "What's with the look? You know she's going to want to spend time with you."

"Yes, for sex," I replied with a short laugh, opening up the door and finding my sunglasses on the dash. Putting them on, I held open the door and continued with, "She's not my girlfriend. She will never _be _my girlfriend, so as far as I'm concerned, she doesn't have to approve of anything that I do. She knows that it'll never evolve into anything other than what we are now."

He laughed and nodded his head. "Very well then, you know best." His question still struck me as odd, so I continued to stare at him. "Oh hey, I've been meaning to ask ya…When is your blitz camp this summer?"

"Which one?" I asked, getting into my car, putting the keys in the ignition and putting the top down in my car. While looking in the rear view mirror to fix my hair, I added, "I'm going to two this year, remember? Heh, one of the best things Jecht has ever convinced my mother to do. One is the first week of July and the second two weeks later."

I saw him think about something for a second, then said, "Okay, that sounds good. Why don't we take a road trip this summer? Just take like a week and go for a drive."

"Do you have a specific place in mind or what?" I wasn't put off by the idea, it did sound intriguing, but it was just quite random.

"Bevelle."

Putting my hands down, I turned my head and raised an eyebrow. It was the fact that he didn't think about it for very long and just said the name of the town that struck me as odd. "Bevelle? What the hell's in Bevelle besides a bunch of religious people, temples, and an amazing blitz school?" He glared and frowned, but I still remained confused.

"You're such a dumbass," he mumbled, tapping his fingers against the window of my car. "Fine, we'll stay here all summer and just play blitz."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed, giving him a wave and backing out of my parking spot. I saw him shaking his head before walking toward his car. Apparently I missed something.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"It's about time you're home," I heard my dad say from the living room the second that I opened the door. Turning my head to see him, I noted that he was watching the blitz game without a shirt on and had a beer in his hand. What a shock. I frowned at his presence because I wasn't going to watch the game in the living room, knowing that I avoided father/son bonding time as often as possible.

"Yeah," I said, throwing my keys and cell phone on the counter and walking into the kitchen. I wasn't expecting him to be home, but then I remembered that his team had a game later and they didn't practice the day that they had a game. At least it would get him out of the house, but then I had my mother to worry about. I opened the fridge and, after looking around to make sure that no one was around, grabbed out a beer. As long as I went upstairs to drink it, my parents would never notice and I'd get away with it. I twisted off the top and took a drink from the bottle before walking toward the stairs.

"Tidus, what do you think you're doing?"

I whipped around just as my mother lashed out her hand and took the bottle out of my grasp. "Hey!" I exclaimed as I saw her eyes burn at me. She knew it wasn't the first time that I've drank, but she wasn't thrilled with the concept of it. "Mom, come on!"

She walked over to the sink and poured the drink out, even though I only took one sip. "I told your father to stop buying all this alcohol, but does he listen to me? No, of course not. I think he would rather have you drink then get rid of it all."

"That's fine by me," I said with a smile. She frowned at me then rinsed out the empty bottle with a sigh.

"So how was school?" What a typical mother, ya know? Education first. Maybe it's the fact that she's a teacher, but I think she's asked me the same question every day since I was in kindergarten. She was definitely one of those mothers that tried to get me to take a picture every year on the first day of school. I actually let her get away with it until I hit the fifth or sixth grade. Of course, those pictures are going to haunt me for the rest of my life, but at least she stopped.

I shrugged and grabbed a soda out of the fridge. I was still thirsty, so soda would have to suffice. "Boring, but what else is new? At least I'm done for three months now."

"How were your exams?" Again, a typical motherly question.

"So thrilling that I couldn't hold in my excitement." Another frown. "What's the look for?"

"Well, hopefully that means that you did well, knowing you're going to need the good grades for a good college." With a small gasp, she smiled and said, "Oh! Speaking of." Turning around, she opened one of the drawers in the kitchen to grab out an envelope. Handing it to me, she leaned in closer and whispered, "Here, this came for you in the mail. I thought I would hide it until you got home or else your father would've grabbed it and put it through the shredder."

I smiled at her when I saw the front of it. It was a brochure for Central Bevelle University; the rival college of the school my dad went to a while back. He would kill me if I wanted to go to it, but in all honesty, it was the one that seemed most appealing to me. My mom was neutral and told me that I could go to any college that I wanted to go to, but my father thought otherwise. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps and go to the University of Zanarkand like he did. Yeah, that's all I wanted; to be just like my dad. I would walk to all four corners of Spira to _not _be like him. He had a huge chance to make something of himself, and he blew it. I'm definitely not going to make the same mistakes that he did.

"Thanks," I whispered and she kissed me on the cheek. I hated it when she did that, so I rubbed the spot with my hand.

"I can't believe my baby is going to college in a year." I made a face at her sentence and she wrapped her arms around me. I wiggled out of her embrace as I continued to look at the brochure.

"I just can't believe that I'm already getting brochures to colleges," I admitted with a small chuckle. "All right, I'm gonna go upstairs. Call me if you need me or if Lenne comes over."

"Okay," she replied, then turned toward the cupboards to start making dinner. It was only three in the afternoon, yikes. Why did she feel the need to make four course meals every night?

I walked upstairs and let out a sigh of relief once I reached my room. I loved my room. Why? Because it was mine. No one dared to come in it, except my mom every once and a while to get my laundry or straighten up a little bit. She really was SuperMom; always cleaning, cooking, and baking. She also worked full time as a teacher too. I have no idea how she was able to keep her sanity, but she always said that she had to look after her boys.

After I shut the door and locked it, I kicked off my shoes, tossed them so they landed somewhere in my room, and then sat on my bed and started to look at the brochures from Central Bevelle University. It was a nice school with an excellent blitz team… and if I could make it there and eventually become captain of the team, I could go to any professional team that I wanted to be on. Any of them but the Abes, because I wouldn't want to be on that team. I would forever be compared to my father… although I'm pretty sure that no matter what team I'm on, I'd be compared to him.

…And everyone would wait for me to make the same mistakes that he did. I want to get out of Zanarkand as soon as I graduate, so that's why Central Bevelle sounded so appealing. After I graduate there, who knows where I'd go. Maybe to Besaid or something like that… other side of Spira. Sounded perfect actually. Just to get away from everything and start my own life. Yeah, pretty much a dream come true. Too bad I actually had to wait a few years and go through all that school first, but I would be fine as long as I focused.

There was a knock on my door and I jumped a little. I was a little more engrossed in the booklet than I thought I was, apparently. It wasn't going to be my dad, so I continued looking through everything as I said, "Yeah?"

"It's just me," my mom said as she cracked open the door and poked her head in. "I wanted to say that…" She trailed off as she had a look around my room, then frowned at me. "Tidus, your room will be cleaned this weekend, you know."

"I know," I replied, glancing around at it. It was pretty bad, I couldn't lie about that. However, I knew that wasn't the reason that she came up here. "What's up?"

"Oh," she said, holding out her hand and revealing my phone. "It just rang, so I figured you'd want to call back whoever it was."

As I walked over to her, I asked, "Was it Lenne?" She shrugged and started to walk back toward my door. Before I was able to thank her for bringing it up to me, I saw the number and didn't recognize it, causing me to pause.

"Something wrong?" she asked, no doubt because I had a strange look on my face.

Shaking my head, I looked back up at her. "No, I just don't recognize it. Someone must've just had the wrong number, no big deal." She nodded and walked back downstairs, so I put the phone back on my dresser before sitting back on my bed to look at the brochures again. Whoever it was didn't leave a message, so apparently it wasn't important. If it was, they'd call back.


	3. III

**III**

When my father and I walked into the house, we both froze at the same time and exchanged looks. Apparently my mom was a little more excited to move for a few weeks than we both thought, for she had already pulled out some boxes and crates and put them in the middle of the hallway, leaving a trail that led toward the kitchen, where music was blasting rather loudly. Taking a few mores steps in the direction of the kitchen, my dad and I looked around the corner to see my mom with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, packing up half of the kitchen, singing and dancing as she put things in boxes. What wasn't already in boxes was sitting on the counters, the floor… basically anywhere that there was a flat surface.

I chuckled a little in disbelief and reached my hand out toward the stereo to turn the music down a little, for standing next to the speakers was rather deafening. She stopped what she was doing instantly and whipped her head up at us, not looking the slightest bit embarrassed that we caught her in the middle of the performance to the song that was on.

"Oh! I didn't realize you two were going to be home so quickly!" She exclaimed, walking over to me and giving me a hug at the same time that she kissed my father. "I would've made dinner or something, but I think I packed most of the pots and pans. Hm, that would've been an issue." Moving a stray tendril of hair out of her face, she laughed at the mess of the kitchen and then looked down at me. "How was your last day of school, Yuna?"

"Ariana…" My father said slowly without allowing me to answer my mom, his eyes still looking over the mess that used to be the kitchen.

She smiled widely. "Yes, dear?"

Finally, he looked at her, who gave him another playful kiss on the cheek. "We're only going for a few weeks, not for six years."

"But we are going _soon_, so that is why I'm in the rush to get everything all packed up! I don't want to forget anything that's important!" She turned up the music again before grabbing my father and dancing with him a little bit, avoiding the boxes and random kitchen things in the process. The two of them made me laugh, so I moved a little to give them room and watched for a few moments.

Thinking about my mom's statement, I looked up at the ceiling for a moment. In the car, my dad asked me how I felt about going back over to Zanarkand and that we were going back for a few weeks, but he didn't give the specific dates. "Hey, when _are _we leaving to go back there, anyway?"

Without stopping their little dance, my father said, "We're leaving late Friday night, so we'll arrive during the day on Saturday since we're driving there."

"Friday!? That's two days from now," I replied, feeling my heart skip a beat. I'm not sure if it was in excitement or shock that it was so soon. "You expect me to be ready by then?"

"Yep!" My mother said, trying to spin my father around. Her attempt failed, so they just started to laugh as my dad regained his footing so he wouldn't topple over.

"I don't think I can pack everything in that short of a time-span!" I said, running through my head everything that I would need to pack, and I certainly didn't have enough time to pack it all. "Oh, Zaon." With that, I rushed upstairs to my room to start my packing.

When I reached my room, I heard my mother yell, "We're going out to dinner in a little bit, Yuna! Be ready!"

I nodded even though she couldn't see me, then shut my door. "Two days!?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air and trying to think what I should've done first. So much packing to be done, and, much like my mom, I didn't want to forget anything. Starting at my main closet would be the best place, then I would move onto toiletries and other miscellaneous things that would remind me of Bevelle while I was gone. My stuffed Shiva doll that I've had since I was a baby, my diary, perhaps some pictures that I had of my friends and I…

At that, I flicked my eyes over to the picture frames that contained photos from the previous year at the summer festival that was held annually in Bevelle. It was, perhaps, the most important ceremony in Bevelle; the whole city practically shut down for the parades, speeches, ceremonies, and, of course, the Blitzball championship game. In the center of all the pictures was one of Rikku, Gippal, Baralai and I, all smiling. I was really going to miss them... We had been an inseparable foursome for the past five years and a pit suddenly formed in my stomach at the thought that I was leaving.

But, I had to remember that it wasn't forever. Just a few weeks.

Packing just seemed like such a simple concept, yet I still found myself walking around my room trying to figure out what it was that I wanted to bring with me to Zanarkand. Like my dad said, it wasn't like we were going to stay there too long, but I didn't want to be under prepared for anything that could've happened. Maybe we would go out to a nice restaurant a couple of times, so that meant I would have to bring some nice outfits. If there were presentations that my dad had to go to that involved my mother and I going as well, more reasons for nice clothing.

Then of course, Zanarkand was a coastal city, meaning there were a lot of beaches. Having some free time on the beach with a nice bathing suit would make a nice summer vacation as well.

I tapped my fingers on the doors of my closets as I peered inside, my eyes going over the outfits that I had in there. I certainly did have a lot of clothes, and it wouldn't have been possible to pack them all in a few little suitcases. I wanted to be prepared, but I didn't want to pack too heavily because we were driving. Sitting next to eight suitcases on the way there would've made quite an uncomfortable journey.

Just thinking about leaving Bevelle made me a little homesick already, but going back to Zanarkand… there was so much that was still there, but what if it wasn't there for me when I returned? Not just that park that my friends and I used to go to, or that small secluded beach area that we discovered that one day… but my friends. It had been so long since I have talked to any of them… especially…

I looked over to the spot on my bed where my purse was, which I knew had my cell phone in it. I still had his cell phone number stored away in my phone, even though it had been quite some time that we talked on the phone. For the last few months that we talked to each other, it was pretty much only via email, which seems a lot less personal. Not to mention that the emails consistently started to get shorter and shorter, to the point where his last one stated, "I've been so busy, but I'll write soon!" and had his name at the bottom.

Zanarkand A East high school had a little bit of everything to keep it's students entertained, especially when it came to blitzball and the end of the semester school work and exams. He was Junior Captain of the blitzball team, so with games and practices all the time, I had to accept that he would be busy. Also, his last email was around late December, so with all the Yevonistmas celebrations and shopping, I understood.

Of course, I was very busy as well with everything that was going on in Bevelle. I had the exams and the finishing papers and such to do with school, but I had a lot of extra social work that I was doing, such as running the Yevonismas Pageant at the Bevelle temple. It was a lot of work to help all those kids learn their parts in the songs and help them with costumes, but it was so rewarding when it was all finished. That was only one of the many things I was doing. There are times when I wonder how I do it all, but I love to do it, so it didn't matter.

Thinking about him made me wonder how he was doing, so I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and went to Tidus' number. It was a lot easier, emotionally, than I thought it would be, but I just put the phone up to my ear and listened to it ring.

And ring.

Every time I heard a ring, I felt my hopes dissipate a little more and wondered if he was deliberately ignoring my call. I had to convince myself that maybe he was still at school, but when I looked up at the clock, I shook my head. He should've been home for a good long while by that time. He wouldn't have a reason to ignore me, would he? Did I do something wrong? When his voice mail clicked in, I felt myself frown.

"Hey, it's Ti, and I'm obviously doing bigger and better things than talk to you right now. However, if you feel up to it, leave a message. The more provocative it is, the faster I'll call you back."

When did he start referring to himself as 'Ti,' first of all? Ever since we were little kids, it's always been 'Tidus.' It was his name, why wouldn't he go by that? Even when he signed his emails and such… And leave a provocative message? As the automated voice continued talking, explaining how my message would be recorded after the sound of the tone and so on, I couldn't even leave a message. I couldn't leave a provocative message if my life depended on it. It would've been against all of my morals.

With a small scoff of disgust, I disconnected the call, shut the phone and threw it on my bed next to me and just stared at it for a few minutes. Calling him back wasn't something that I wanted to do right away, but I did want to get in contact with him somehow. Not to mention, if he didn't want to see me, a surprise visit wouldn't go over too well…

Before I had a chance to think about it too hard, there was a small knock on my door and my mother poked her head in. "Yuna, are you ready for dinner?"

I looked up at her and sighed. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few." I was thankful when she didn't ask me what was wrong and just smiled and walked back downstairs, for I didn't really want to talk about it. It was something that I would just have to deal with later.

-

I don't know what was stopping me from calling Tidus back after my parents and came back home after dinner. I instantly went up to my room, sat on my bed, then stared at my phone for a good twenty minutes. Not doing anything else; just…sitting there. I even had the number punched in already—all I needed to do was push the 'send' button on my cell phone. Maybe I was hoping that the phone would do it by itself or something, I wasn't sure.

"Just do it, Yuna," I said out loud, finally finding the strength to push the green button on my phone. As I put the phone up to my ear, I realized that I was shaking. I shouldn't have been nervous because he's been my best friend my whole life, but I was terrified nonetheless.

After the fourth ring, I frowned a little bit, but in a way it was a good thing. Now I was just hoping that I was going to get his voice mail and not have to talk directly to him. Not leave a provocative message, of course, but something short and simple.

"H…Hello?"

He caught me by surprise when he picked up the phone. I had been trying to think of what I was going to say on his voice mail if it got to that point that I wasn't even expecting him to pick up. He was panting pretty heavily, but he still sounded the same since the last time I talked to him.

Swallowing the lump that was in my throat, I managed to squeak out, "Hey, Tidus." There was silence on the other line for a second, so I looked at the display on my phone to make sure that he was still on the line. The seconds were still ticking, so I knew he was there.

"Who… is this?"

I couldn't describe the feeling that washed through me, perhaps it was disappointment. He didn't even know who it was? Didn't he recognize my number? Or… did he delete me from his phone? That kinda stung, but I chose to ignore it. "It's Yuna."

"Holy shit, Yuna!"

His exclamation shocked me, not expecting the swearing. It wasn't as though I've never heard him swear before, but I couldn't tell if he was happy to hear from me, or if he didn't expect me to ever contact him again. I didn't have the slightest idea to what he was feeling on the other line. "Yeah, it's me," I finally said, trying to still sound happy and chipper like usual.

"Hey!" Now he sounded happy to hear me, but he was still panting. "How are you? I haven't talked to you in a long time!"

"I'm not too bad," I replied, putting my hand on my knee to stop it from shaking. "Are you okay? You sound kind of out of breath or something."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he reassured me. "I just had to…run upstairs to find my phone before voice mail kicked in, that's all. I'm surprised that I heard it ring from where I was at, but I found it!"

"Yes, you did." There was silence between he and I for a minute, and I wasn't sure what to say. How do you tell someone that even though you miss them, you love the life that you live now and you don't want to go back to your hometown again even if they're there? "Are you busy?"

He paused, but with a chuckle said, "Not really. It wasn't that great anyway, so you're not interrupting anything. Why, what's up?"

I was confused, but I didn't spend much time dwelling on it. "Well, it's been a while since we've talked, so I kind of wanted to catch up with a few things, but the main reason I called? It's kind of a long story, but I can make it relatively short if need be."

"Okay…" I felt like he was rushing me and I'm not sure why. Whatever he was doing certainly was distracting him before I called.

I inhaled deeply so I could explain it all in one breath. If I did that, he wouldn't have had a chance to interrupt me and I could get through it all in one blow. "You know with all the research that my father is doing in Bevelle, right? Trying to figure out Sin's attack patterns and whatnot? I know I've at least mentioned it to you about it before, so I'm going to get right to the point. My father's research is moving us back to Zanarkand for the summer." I felt like I set a bomb off. His silence was not a reaction that I wanted, and it wasn't making me feel better about going back there for a while. "Questions? Comments?"

"Uh…" Wow. Some reply. "Well, I haven't seen you in a while, so yeah. It'll be great to see you again. It's been what? Seven, eight years?"

"Something like that," I said quietly, knowing the exact date that I moved away from Zanarkand. I thought it was something that he would remember too, but I was starting to believe there was a lot that he had forgotten. "I can't believe it's been that long already."

"Time flies, doesn't it?" He stated with another quiet chuckle. "Well, it'll be great to see you. Do you know when you're coming here? Next month? A few months from now?"

Feeling my lips turn down a little from the way it seemed he didn't want to see me anytime soon, I stated simply, "Saturday."

Again, more silence. "Saturday. Saturday …. As in…"

"'Saturday' as in three days from now, Tidus," I said, starting to feel like I was talking to a small child.

"Huh. That's… _soon_." I shouldn't have begun to feel angry, but I couldn't help it. I expected him to be a little more excited, to start spouting off things that we could do when I came back… not give me short noncommittal responses and sound monotone.

I let out a small sigh. "Yeah, it really is. I have so much packing to do that it's ridiculous, but I'm sure I'll be able to manage. Besides, if I forget anything, I'm sure a nice trip to the Yunalesca mall would be very fun, entertaining, and I could buy everything there."

"Wow, it has been a while since you've been here, hasn't it?" He said with a chuckle.

"Well, it has been five years." My tone was rather flat, more like a reminder of how long it had been so his mind could be refreshed. "Why?"

"They totally rebuilt Yunalesca's about three years ago, but it's still pretty sweet. They got rid of all the stupid stores that no one ever went into and put in some really good ones." I nodded, even though he couldn't see me other the phone. There was a pause, and then he added, "We… will have to go there when you come here."

For the first time in the entire conversation, I felt myself genuinely smile. "That sounds like a plan. Sounds good—" Before I could finish, I heard a quiet beep, so I looked at my phone. "Oh, I have to go though, I have another call."

"Oooh, boyfriend?"

I couldn't tell if he was teasing or not, but he knew that I had a boyfriend, I was sure of it. Even though Baralai and I just started dating when the emails between Tidus and I were becoming few and far between, I know I must've mentioned him somewhere. "Yeah, it's Baralai."

"Ah. Well, I don't want to keep you, so give me a buzz when you arrive here, kay?"

"Sounds good, Tidus," I said, the smile still on my face. "Take care."

"You too."

I waited a second before I clicked over to talk to Baralai, pretty happy that I called up Tidus instead of just running into him on the Zanarkand shores or something. Giving him a heads up was probably a good idea. "Hey, Baralai."

"Hey, Yuna! What's up?"

I got off of my bed and went back to my closet; I needed to really start packing. "Oh not much. Just working on packing and all that fun stuff."

He was silent for a moment. "P… Packing? For what? Where are you going?"

"Oh, well…" It was then that I realized, in the midst of everything, I had forgotten to tell my very best friends what was going on. Feeling a little guilty, I started to explain everything from the beginning.


	4. IV

**March 27, 2007. It didn't take me as long as I thought it would to write this chapter, but it took me a very long time to edit it. It was one of those chapters that I just HATED as I wrote it, so I had to basically revamp the entire thing, keeping only the first two pages and part of the final three. But, it's much better now, thank god, so I'll just posted it. It's also much longer than I expected it to be... It's the longest chapter of the fic so far, nearly 5,000 words. Not sure how it ended up being that long, lol, but it's easier to write the Tidus chapters than the Yuna ones, I suppose. Okay, I have to run to work... enjoy!  
**

* * *

**IV**

College was already giving me a headache and I hadn't even started yet. I was only on the application part of it, which was _still _going to spit me out and maim me, I already knew it. All I had done so far was write down the basic information, such as my name and address, but then stopped. That was perhaps enough for the day, or week, or however long I had to until I had to send it in to the university, as well as a check. As if universities didn't charge enough for tuition, books, and other school like things whenever they possibly could, they had to charge 250 gil for each university that you wanted to apply to. Thankfully, I was only going to apply to two.

Of course, applying to a school meant my father finding out just where I was going to go, and where I definitely wasn't going to go. I wasn't sure what he reaction would be when he found out that I wanted to go to his rival school from college, but there was that huge part of me that really didn't give a damn. I just hoped that I would be able to get a decent blitz scholarship or else I'd really be screwed when it came for paying for all of it. Jecht definitely wouldn't help me out, and I know my mom would do all that she could, but without a scholarship, I would have to go to a local school. Meaning, University of Zanarkand.

No way, I'd rather shoot myself in the foot with a staple gun. It was just going to be hard to do it all behind his back, especially when it came to visiting the campuses this summer. The pictures in the brochures looked nice, but I wanted to go there and scope my surroundings a little bit. See where the clubs and bars were, that kind of thing. I wanted to be prepared once I got up there, not have to waste precious time by having to find out where the women hung out on campus.

I leaned back in my desk chair and stretched my arms above my head, cracking my neck as I dropped my hands by my side. Tapping my pen against one of the legs on the chair, I looked back down at the application and exhaled. There were so many parts to a college application that it was ludicrous. I felt as though I was signing my life away, but in a matter of speaking, I suppose that wasn't far from the truth. 'Sign here. We will own your soul for the next five years and take your money for the next 15 due to student loans and interest,' it practically said to me, mocking the fact that I had been staring at this paper for the past hour and a half.

The worst part about the application was how there was an essay that I had to write. I was more than well aware that my writing skills were way below par so I would have to really think about it before I typed it up and sent it in. Asking for help wasn't something that I wanted to do. I was too old to ask for help on a simple 3 page essay. Well, too old or too proud, I really couldn't tell the difference anymore.

I heard my phone vibrating across the desk before I looked at the display, and as I lazily looked over at it, I was only half surprised to see that it was Lenne. It didn't stop me from rolling my eyes and sighing though. I hated talking to her on the phone, she was so boring most of the time. We never had anything to talk about because I really didn't care about what went on in her life and cheerleading and such, and when I talked about blitz, all she did was sigh and not care. If it wasn't for the sex and the image, I would drop all communication with her all together and not feel the least bit guilty or sad about it. Flipping the phone open, I said into the receiver, "Ya know, I told you if you wanted to see me, you just could come over."

"Hello to you as well," she said, her voice showing that she was obviously a little annoyed with the way I picked up the phone. I just didn't feel like saying 'hello' to her. The way I answered was more direct and to the point.

"What's up?" I asked, tossing my pencil back onto my desk before picking up all the papers and putting them back into the folder I used to hide all my Central Bevelle information. My dad never came into my room, but I couldn't risk him finding everything and destroying it.

She didn't comment on the fact that I wanted her off the phone but I knew she was well aware of it. I hated talking on the phone for some reason. Usually my point could get across by a text message, so a phone conversation wasn't necessary. "I want you, of course." I chuckled at her and she continued with, "but, I just wasn't sure if your parents were home or not. I mean, coming over in very short shorts and a rather tight tank top might give them the wrong impression."

My lips went into a very small 'o' shape as I said, "oooh, that sounds promising." Just to check, I opened up my door and peeked outside. The whole house was dark with the exception of the lights that were on a timer in the living room, and I couldn't hear any noises. "Yeah, they're both gone. My dad is at his blitz game and I don't know where my mother is, but it doesn't matter. Come over as you are."

"Sounds good then," she said.

Putting the folder in one of my drawers, under all the clothes and all the way to the back, I said, "oh yeah, just a reminder. I want you out of here by seven, so that gives you about an hour."

She playfully clicked her tongue against her teeth. "You're giving me a time limit now? What is this?"

I didn't think she was offended, it wouldn't have been the first time that I would've kicked her out because of other things to do. I'm sure she just expected it and was trying to give me a hard time. "There's a blitz game on tonight."

"You don't want company to watch it?"

Not changing my facial expression at all, I answered very quickly. "No." She should've known better than that. Watching blitz with a girl wasn't something that I would find enjoyable, as chauvinistic as that sounds. I only watched blitz with my friends or alone because I didn't want to be in the company of people who didn't know anything about the game. The most annoying thing in the world was trying to explain the rules as the game was on… I could miss something very important. I once missed an amazing shot from halfway across the sphere by trying to explain something to Lenne two years ago when she wanted to know what was going on. That was the first and last time I watched blitz with anyone who hadn't taken the time to learn all the rules.

I heard her let out a breathy laugh, proving that she expected that answer. I don't know why she asked then, but trying to read a woman's mind was a very dangerous idea, so I dared not try. Ever. "Okay then, give me five minutes and I'll be on my way."

"Sounds good, the door is open. See ya in a few." With that, I shut the phone and put it on my desk. Looking over at the time, I saw that it was almost six o'clock. It took Lenne about ten minutes to make her way over to my house, giving us fifty minutes or so before I wanted her out of my room.

Since it _was_ almost six o'clock, that meant that the pregame activities for the blitz game were going to be on, which I always did enjoy watching. Although it wasn't anything too fascinating, it sometimes had some interesting interviews and stats which entertained me greatly. I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed the remote for my tv to turn it on just in time for it to start.

About fifteen minutes into the program, my door finally opened and Lenne walked into my room. She really wasn't kidding when she said that her outfit probably wouldn't have gone over too well with my parents. More my mother than my father; Jecht wouldn't have cared. In fact, he probably would've tried to hit on her or something, which would've just made my mother and I furious… for different reasons, of course. Just the thought of my father sleeping with the same girl made me feel nauseated. Even though she did kind of look like a streetwalker, I really wouldn't have minded if my parents saw her. I didn't need them to like her, just like I didn't need Lenne's parents to like me. It wasn't like I was wooing the girl or anything. I was just sleeping with her.

I rolled over so I was on my side, my head propped up by my elbow as I gave her a once over. With the skin tight black tank top and the tiny tan skirt, it didn't leave much to the imagination… especially if there was a small gust of wind that happened to rush through. "Nice outfit."

"Thanks," she said, throwing her purse, keys, and cell phone on my desk then made her way over to my bed. Putting her hand on my shoulders, she pushed me back on the bed and straddled my hips. "I figured you'd like it."

I gave her a small nod and flicked the bottom edge of her skirt with a finger, finding that she had on a tiny black thong. "Why bother, Lenne? It's a skirt. People would be able to see your ass just as well if you didn't wear anything underneath."

She leaned forward and started to kiss my neck, breathing into my ear for a second before she said, "It was a thought, I'm not going to lie."

My lips broke out into a smile as I raised my hands and placed them on her hips, moving the fabric of her shirt with my fingertips so I could feel her skin. If there was one reason I continued to sleep with Lenne, it was the fact that she could turn me on with just the words that came out of her mouth. In fact, she was very good with her mouth in every aspect, so that was definitely another reason to why I continued to sleep with her.

Starting to rush things a little bit, I tucked my fingers in the waistline of her skirt and began to pull it down. Nibbling on my earlobe, she pinned my hands down onto the bed. "No, no, no…."

I couldn't do anything but blink at her in surprise. "Come again?"

"Keep the skirt on."

My look was not exactly an amused one. "O…kay. So we're going to keep our pants on as we have sex? Because if that's what you're implying, let me tell you my opinion on that; zippers? Ow."

She stopped kissing my ear for a moment and began to chuckle. "That's not what I'm saying at all. It's just that, it's a short skirt, so you don't need to take it off. Your pants can come off though. I do enjoy seeing you naked…"

"Oooh, kinky." I broke free from her grasp, grabbed her by the waist, and rolled her onto her back on the bed. "But, we don't have to worry about getting caught, so there isn't any reason to why I can't see you naked." Before she could respond, I pulled her skirt down her legs and began kissing her lips roughly, whispering between kisses, "I love the feel of your skin on mine."

Letting out an airy moan, she trailed her fingertips down my back until she reached the hem of my shirt, then moved her hands underneath the material and dug her fingernails into my skin. I winced a little as her nails passed over a wound from the previous time that she decided to claw me with her nails during sex, but I tried not to show it too much. I did like it when she did that, so there was no reason to complain.

It didn't take long for both of our shirts to come off, and then I started to work on her underwear, panting slightly. They were the complicated ones that tied on both sides, but she tied them a little too tightly over her hips so I couldn't just slide them off, but the knots were nearly impossible to undo. After a few minutes of toying with them, I grew too frustrated to continue. "Dammit, Lenne! Did you have to wear a pair of underwear that needs an instruction manual? Untie this knot before I just break the damn strings!"

My impatience kind of ruined the mood a little bit, but she sighed as she sat down on my hips and began working on the knot. "Sorry, I didn't think I tied them that tightly. I wanted to make sure that they weren't going to fall off or untie or something."

I didn't even bother touching her as she fought with the knot, but that caused me to start getting a little bit bored after about thirty seconds. I was starting to be able to catch my breath while I waited, but my patience was running very thin. "Lenne, while I'm young and still have a sex drive."

"I know, I know, I'm working on—AHH!!!"

Both she and I jumped at the same time, and it was from the fact that my phone was in my jeans pocket and had begun vibrating. She hopped off of me instantly, hand over her heart, as she tried to calm down slightly from the shock of something vibrating underneath her thigh. "Relax, it's just my phone."

"Wow, thanks, because I didn't notice!" She retorted back, exhaling quickly as I reached into my pocket to grab my phone. "You're not going to answer it, are you?"

The tone of her voice stated that it was definitely a question that I should know the answer to; I better not answer it or else she wouldn't be happy with me. "Depends on who it is." After untangling my phone from the inner lining of my pockets, it came out along with some lint, so I flicked the lint onto my floor and looked at the display.

It was the number that had called me earlier, I recognized the area code. This time I wasn't going to wait to see if whoever it was was going to leave a message. Besides, Lenne wasn't really distracting me enough to not make me want to pick up the phone; the fact that she tied her panties too tightly really ruined the mood for me. However, my breathing still did sound a little irregular because of the intensive making out, so I had to calm it down some before I spoke into the receiver. "H…Hello?"

"Hey, Tidus."

It was a female, and she obviously called the right number if she knew that it was me who picked up the phone. So, it wasn't a misdialed call. But the voice…I knew that voice. It sounded like… no. No, no way. It couldn't have been her. It had been way too long since we had contacted each other via email yet alone called each other on the phone. In fact, it had been so long that I simply deleted her number from my phone. If she was too busy to write me an email, she would be too busy to call me as well…

Lenne seemed to have forgotten about her underwear and tried to get my attention again by leaning over and kissing my neck. She was actually distracting me a little bit by doing that, causing the inability to think clearly, so I put my hand over her lips to stop her. Plus, the last thing I wanted was her to leave some marks on my neck, and I know she would've done it if she didn't get a positive reaction – such as hanging up the phone. I opened my mouth a few times, not sure of what to say. Jumping to conclusions would've been bad, so I cautiously asked, "Who… is this?"

There was silence on the other end of the line, causing me to become even more curious. Finally, the girl said, "It's Yuna."

My eyes went wide, for I was definitely right with my assumptions. "Holy shit, Yuna!" Practically tossing Lenne off me so I was able to sit back up, I swung my legs over the side of the bed so they rested on the floor. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be feeling. Shock was pretty much the only thing that my mind could process.

"Yeah, it's me." Her voice always sounded so cheerful, and I strongly believed that she could be happy over any situation that ever happened. Even when my dog died when I was seven, she still tried to cheer me up and say that I could always get another dog. It didn't really make me feel any better, but I had to give her credit for trying.

Lenne scooted up toward me, pressing her bare chest against my back and rubbing her hands over my chest. I shot her a look and grabbed her hands so she would stop it. "Hey! How are you? I haven't talked to you in a long time!"

"I'm not too bad," she said before pausing for a moment. "Are you okay? You sound kind of out of breath or something."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," I said, thinking that I had to come up with a believable lie and fast. I didn't want to tell her that there was an extremely attractive, mostly naked girl on my bed and I was fooling around with her just moments before she called. "I just had to…run upstairs to find my phone before voice mail kicked in, that's all. I'm surprised that I heard it ring from where I was at, but I found it!"

It was a decent fib, and she seemed to buy it as she said, "Yes, you did. Are you busy?"

I flicked my eyes over to Lenne, and it was clear that she was rather confused as to why I hadn't hung up the phone yet. We were in the middle of something, but it was just going to have to wait a few moments while I caught up with an old friend. "Not really. It wasn't that great anyway, so you're not interrupting anything." Lenne smacked me in the shoulder with a scoff after that statement, but I just smirked at her and shrugged it off. "Why, what's up?"

"Well, it's been a while since we've talked, so I kind of wanted to catch up with a few things, but the main reason I called? It's kind of a long story, but I can make it relatively short if need be."

Now I was really curious to what it was that she had to say. Pushing her along just a little, I said, "Okay…" I hoped she picked up the hint to hurry it up because I wanted to know.

I could hear her take a deep breath, then spout out, "You know with all the research that my father is doing in Bevelle, right? Trying to figure out Sin's attack patterns and whatnot?" I opened my mouth to answer, but she was still talking, using the same breath of air. If she wanted my feedback, she would've paused, so I had to smile a little bit. She didn't change one bit. "I know I've at least mentioned it to you about it before, so I'm going to get right to the point. My father's research is moving us back to Zanarkand for the summer."

What? She was what? Moving back to Zanarkand? For the entire summer? Did I hear her correctly? I didn't have anything to say. Or rather, I couldn't think of the right thing to say. My brain was still trying to process what she said, not sure what my reaction should've been.

She must've sensed my confusion, because she added, "Questions? Comments?"

I opened my mouth to say something that explained that I was excited to hear the news, that she could see some blitz games again, that we could catch up with things, but all that came out was a, "Uh…" It was more of a squeak than anything, which was rather embarrassing, so I swallowed and tried again. "Well, I haven't seen you in a while, so yeah. It'll be great to see you again. It's been what? Six, seven years?"

"Something like that." She sounded a little hurt, but it wasn't like I was going to say the exact date that she left. It would sound as though I pined over her and constantly waited for her to come back. It wasn't as though I _pined_, I just missed my best friend. She and I were inseparable since we were born, so to have her leave like that really hurt, even though it wasn't her decision. "I can't believe it's been that long already."

That was the truth, so I agreed with a small chuckle. "Time flies, doesn't it?" Looking over at Lenne again, I noticed that she moved about a foot away and was starting to put her clothing back on. I think she was trying to see if I would stop her, but since I didn't, she sighed and just slipped her skirt back on. I more or less ignored her and I focused back onto the conversation with Yuna, trying to sound nonchalant. "Well, it'll be great to see you. Do you know when you're coming here? Next month? A few months from now?"

"Saturday."

Such a simple reply that caused my jaw to drop a little. What day of the week was it? Tuesday? No… was it Wednesday? Trying to work out my thoughts by speaking out loud, I said, "Saturday. Saturday …… As in…"

"'Saturday' as in three days from now, Tidus."

I think there was a touch of annoyance in her voice, but I wasn't sure why. I was just in shock and unable to think correctly at the moment. "Huh. That's… _soon_." My voice sounded flat, but I didn't mean for it to.

She sighed. "Yeah, it really is. I have so much packing to do that it's ridiculous, but I'm sure I'll be able to manage. Besides, if I forget anything, I'm sure a nice trip to the Yunalesca mall would be very fun, entertaining, and I could buy everything there."

She was excited to come back, I could hear it, and it caused me to chuckle a little. "Wow, it has been a while since you've been here, hasn't it?"

"Well, it has been five years." I chewed on my lower lip for a second. She wasn't embarrassed to let me know just how long it had been, yet I didn't want her to know that I knew. My pride got in the way too often for my own good sometimes. "Why?"

I also didn't want her to know just how excited I was to see her again, so I tried to play it cool. "They totally rebuilt Yunalesca's about three years ago, but it's still pretty sweet. They got rid of all the stupid stores that no one ever went into and put in some really good ones." A small smile swept across my face and I added softly, "We… will have to go there when you come here."

I was not able to ignore the look that Lenne gave me, so I just raised my shoulders in question. Of course, I knew what the glare was about; it sounded as though I just asked Yuna on a date. Hanging out at the mall for an afternoon was not a date. It was something that friends did. It was something that Yuna and I used to do all the time before she moved away, so I didn't think anything of it. If anything, it was just me trying to bring back the old times.

"That sounds like a plan. Sounds good—" Her voice was chopped off for a brief second. "Oh, I have to go though, I have another call."

With a teasing tone, I asked, "Oooh, boyfriend?"

"Yeah, it's Baralai."

So she did still have a boyfriend, I wasn't sure. She mentioned it once or twice in the emails that we exchanged, but that was a good four months ago, a lot could've happened. Most high school relationships only lasted a few weeks anyway, but it didn't surprise me that Yuna had been dating this guy for a while. She always was the kind to be serious about everything, so I would assume that she wouldn't treat a relationship any differently. "Ah. Well, I don't want to keep you, so give me a buzz when you arrive here, kay?"

"Sounds good, Tidus. Take care."

I smiled and nodded, replying softly, "You too." I waited until she disconnected the call and then I flipped my phone shut.

"Old friend?" Lenne asked, her hands behind her back, hooking her bra back together to finalize getting dressed. She wasn't happy about it, but I was in a pretty good mood.

Tossing my phone so it landed on my desk chair, I leaned back and rested against my elbows. "Yeah. Do you remember Yuna? She used to live next door to me, on the right side, before moving to Bevelle." I pointed in the direction of said house.

"Oh yeah, I think I remember her. Petite, brunette, kind of cute? I forgot that she moved away." She sounded sincere for a moment, but then a sarcastic smile appeared on her face. "Let me guess, she stole your heart when she left for Bevelle?"

Shaking my head and chuckling, I tossed a pillow at her. "Ah ha, very funny, but no. She was just a friend." Looking over at the clock, I noticed the time. "Oh, it's five 'til seven, meaning you have four minutes to get out of here so I can watch the blitz game."

"How much money did you bet on it?" She asked, throwing the pillow back at me before crawling out of my bed and slipping on her sandals.

"A hundred and fifty gil between the bets with Botta and Wakka," I replied, getting to my feet with a small grunt. "It's not a whole lot, but I don't want to miss a minute of this game. You know that college blitz is my favorite sport to watch, _and_ Bevelle's playing, so you need to leave, Lenne."

Patting me on the shoulder, she gave me a brief kiss. "All right, Blitz Boy, I'm leaving. Rather unsatisfied, but leaving. I can walk myself out, so I'll just talk to you later, kay?"

Nodding and liking the idea of not having to leave my room, I sat back down onto my bed and waved goodbye to Lenne before she shut the door. She just had to point out the fact of not being satisfied, but it was partially her fault for wearing panties with evil knots. I wondered if she was going to have to cut them off to remove them or if she would be able to untie the knots. Fixing the sheets a little bit to get more comfortable on top of them, I grabbed my remote from my bedside table, flicked on the tv, then went to the correct channel just in time for the announcers to introduce the starting players of the two teams.

So, Yuna was coming back to Zanarkand…

The thought flew through my head so casually, as if it wasn't that big of a deal. However, the fact that it did pop into my head as my favorite team was getting ready for the blitz off the game, it was a very big deal. Not many things could break my concentration of blitz ball, but for some reason, this one did.


	5. V

**April 6th, 2008. It has been over a year since I've updated or posted anything, I really apologize. Things have been so insanely crazy and I have had a really severe case of writer's block. This chapter was mostly written last year sometime, but... I just didn't know how to finish it. Insomnia cures that most of the time... and here it is, 5am, and I finally finished it. The ending of this chapter didn't turn out the way I wanted it to really, but... it does work out. This chapter is in Yuna's POV... and the next will be in Tidus'. Hopefully it won't take me another year to update.**

**V**

It was the second time in my young life that I had to tell my best friends that I was going halfway across Spira for longer than a weekend, and that initial feeling from the first time came back to me. It was easily summed up into one word: Awful. I wasn't like I was abandoning them because they could each hold their own and I would eventually come back, but I just hated goodbyes. The word itself seemed so simple, yet it bothered me so much. I just had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't a final goodbye because my dad said that we would be returning in a few weeks. Then again, my dad also said that his research in Bevelle would only last about six months and it had been roughly five years. In that time I grew a lot of attachments to Bevelle and really liked the place.

On the other hand, I was extremely excited to go back to my hometown again. I left so much behind when my dad decided to move us to Bevelle, and now I was going to be able to go back. It was going to be fun to go to the beach again, watch the sunset and sunrise over the ocean, see my old schools and teachers, reunite with my friends, even it was for only a few short weeks. Perhaps I would be able to just pick up where I left off with some things. Some… people.

Some people named Tidus.

Rikku, Gippal, and Baralai all knew about Tidus. Kind of. They knew we were friends and lived next door to each other for the majority of our lives, but that's where the story began and ended. It wasn't as though I had more to say about him, really, so I wasn't hiding anything. That's all that there was. Sad that such a lifelong story could be summed up in only a few words, but sometimes the shortest of phrases are the ones that mean the most in our heart.

It was the thought that hadn't left my mind since my dad said we were going on a temporary vacation, but it was understandable and justifiable. I never had a friend like Tidus, but I always thought it was just because I went through everything with him. We were next door neighbors, played with each other every day no matter what the weather was, did homework together, got in trouble together… Basically, we were constantly with each other. When we moved, it took me a while to even open up to anyone in any of my classes. It was just too hard. I called Tidus up every night, telling him how much I missed Zanarkand and how I wanted to go back more than anything. We once devised a plan where I would ship myself to Zanarkand and live in his closet so no one would ever know. The plan was very detailed and when we were going to try it, I realized that I didn't know where the nearest post office was and asking my dad for money to ship myself didn't seem like a good idea. He probably would've frowned on that.

The only good thing about moving to Bevelle at first was Rikku. Her family and mine had never been extremely close because she was Al Bhed, but when she and I met, we started to grow closer. She was a lot more out going than me and that kind of scared me, but she helped me open up my shell. Somehow, before I knew it, she, Gippal, and I became inseparable. When Baralai and I became lab partners, he soon joined the group, and after a while I wasn't sure how the group managed without him.

My daily routine of calling Tidus started to change to every other day, to once a week, then once every other week, to every month, to just an occasional email. It hurt, but he and I grew apart. We had separate lives, separate goals. My attention was focused on school and my friends from Bevelle, whereas his attention was on blitzball and friends from Zanarkand. I knew about the people he talked about for the most part, but he didn't know any of my friends, so it was very difficult. Having a long distance friendship required too much time and neither of us really had that time. I had to understand the differences we had, but it didn't bother me any less.

Taking another small lick of my ice cream cone that was in my hand, I flicked my eyes up at Rikku, Gippal, and Baralai who were having their own in depth conversation, then looked back down again. Since we all planned on getting ice cream after dinner anyway, it was the best time to tell them the bad news. Or… what they would consider to be bad news. I wasn't sure if I considered it bad news or not; the thoughts in my head were still mixed. It just so happened to be very ironic that I was going to tell them at an ice cream parlor, because that was the same thing I did with Tidus when I told him that I was moving to Bevelle. But it was the easiest way to tell them; all at the same time so I only had to say it once. I couldn't imagine having to tell them individually.

It was just a lot harder to tell them than I wanted it to be. We had been at the ice cream parlor for about 45 minutes without me saying a word. I just sat there, licking away at my mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of me as I waited for the right time to tell them. From the parts that I heard, they were talking about the things that the four of us should do during the summer, and I definitely didn't want to interrupt during that conversation. How could I speak up and tell them that it would be hard to do anything with me when I was halfway across Spira?

"Isn't that right, Yuna?"

I whipped my head up as Baralai spoke to me, surprised that I even heard him to begin with. "I… uh…"

Baralai knew that he had caught me off guard, so he put his arm around me and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Just trying to get you out of your dream state."

"I'm sorry," I apologized, shaking my head to snap me back into reality. "I'm just a little tired from all the exams and everything this week so I'm a little out of it. What were you saying?"

With a chuckle, he said, "I was just saying how excited I know you are about the chocobo rides that I'm going to have at my graduation party."

My eyes widened at the last two words in his sentence. The second to the last word was the one that really made me more upset than I already was. Graduation! Baralai was _graduating _this year. He was going to have a huge party celebrating his success of being salutatorian of his graduating class, and I was suppose to be there at his side… being the proud girlfriend that I always loved to be. But I wasn't going to be there. His graduation party was in two weeks, and we were leaving for longer than that.

Not saying anything, I put my ice cream cone down on the table, balancing it on the flat end so it wouldn't topple over. I suddenly lost my appetite and I really didn't feel like eating anymore of it.

"Yuna, I was just kidding!" Rikku, Gippal and Baralai all started to bust out laughing, thinking that I believed that there would be the chocobo rides. "You know that I wasn't planning on chocobos. Cake, yes. Lots of balloons and a display board of embarrassing pictures of my life that my mom insisted on making? Unfortunately. But, chocobos? Ha, not at all."

"No, I…" I couldn't get anything else out.

Their laughing ceased a little bit, down to a nervous chuckle. "What's up with you tonight, anyway, Yunie?" Rikku asked me, giving my knee a gentle pat. "You've been so quiet and out of it."

"I just…" Again, that was as far as I got, and that caused the chuckling to stop.

After taking another bite out of her ice cream cone, Rikku pried a little bit by asking, "It is about what your dad needed to talk to you about earlier? Is everything okay?"

It was as if she just _knew_. I was trapped now and I had to tell them. Well, I was going to have to tell them anyway since I was leaving in two days, but I was hoping that I would've been able to hold it off for a few more hours. I wanted to enjoy part of the evening, but now there was no enjoying. Now there was sad news that I had to tell them.

"I… I…" Closing my eyes and putting my head down, I said quickly, "I'm going to Zanarkand for a few weeks and I'm leaving in two days!"

I waited a few moments before I opened my eyes again, and the looks on their faces was just as I thought they would be. Surprised… and a little disappointed. Even when I talked to Baralai on the phone earlier in the evening, I told him that I was going on a short vacation and I would tell him about it when we were out with Rikku and Baralai. I didn't tell him how long and I didn't tell him when.

And he was the first one to find words, too. "Yuna. You're… going to miss my graduation?"

Rikku was next. "My _birthday_ is next Wednesday."

I looked at Gippal to see if he was going to add anything to make me feel even smaller than I already did, but he just shook his head and said, "I guess that means you can't leave, Yuna."

He was joking. I had to hope he was joking to try to ease the mood a little bit, but it didn't make me feel better. I still felt absolutely awful and the tears started to appear. I didn't want to cry, so I blinked them back. "I know, I know all of this… but… There's no way that I can just stay…"

"Sure there is," Rikku interrupted, not missing a beat. "Just stay with pop, Brother, and I! I don't think that'd be a problem, and you're family, so… yeah. It wouldn't be a problem at all!"

In all actuality, it probably wouldn't have been a problem, but there was a large part of me that wanted to go back to Zanarkand for a while. Of course, there was also a large part of me that wanted to stay in Bevelle with my friends. I let out a sigh because I couldn't figure out what I wanted more; Zanarkand or Bevelle. I wanted both at the same exact time, and a thought to box up all my friends, my house, and my school and ship it all to Zanarkand with me came to mind.

If I had my choice, that would be how I would want it. Although I'm not a huge party person by any means, Zanarkand was a much more entertaining town than Bevelle is. The only thing Bevelle had going for it was the intense religious beliefs, temples, and… my friends. If they all came with me…

Then the thought of clashing friends came to mind. Being around Tidus and Wakka again after five years as well as Rikku, Gippal, and Baralai… that would never work. I would try to catch up with Tidus and Wakka since we haven't seen each in forever, then show the other three around Zanarkand, then Tidus and Wakka would get bored and… Yeah. It just spelled disaster.

I had been quiet for a few moments, but it didn't change the fact that Rikku, Gippal, and Baralai were still looking at me, waiting for me to say that I was kidding or something. "I'm sorry," was all I was able to squeak out again. I was starting to feel like a broken record. "I'd love to stay here, but... it's not like I'm going to be gone forever, right?"

That wasn't good enough for them, but it wasn't as if they were going to tell me that. They all kind of nodded and went back to their ice cream, leaving an awkward silence for a few minutes. There wasn't anything left to say about the matter.

Baralai stood up and threw away the rest of his ice cream cone. "I'm sorry," I muttered again, this time for making him lose his appetite as well. "Maybe I…"

Finishing my sentence, Baralai said, "Yeah, I'll get you home. I'm sure you have a lot of packing to do before you leave."

If I didn't know any better, I thought he sounded rather angry at me, which wasn't fair, although I couldn't hold a grudge. I was missing his graduation and I was going to be gone for most of our first summer together. Anger was a natural reaction and one that I thought he would have… it was just the one I didn't want him to have. Leaving for a while with him being bitter over the situation was going to weigh on me.

He still waited for Rikku and Gippal to lead the way to his car so he could put his arm around me and even opened the door. At least that didn't change with his anger. Rikku and Gippal didn't show anger… or much of anything with the exception of remaining quiet the entire car ride back to Rikku's. Baralai kept the radio off as well, as if to let the silence loom.

I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die for the night turned out much worse than I thought it would before school got out earlier in the day when we made our plans. In reality, the day hit a complete 180 with my dad's news and everything turned into a rollercoaster ride from there; thinking about Zanarkand again, talking to Tidus after so long, having to tell my friends that I would miss important things this summer…

When we stopped at Rikku's house, I gave both Rikku and Gippal tight hugs and everything seemed to be okay when I told Rikku that I would ship her a present for her birthday straight from Zanarkand. Saying goodbye to them wasn't too painful and I was even able to smile for a brief second or two. Things weren't 'good' but they were going to be okay when it came to the two of them. Hopefully.

Baralai, though…

After pulling into my driveway, Baralai shifted the gear into park and looked out of his window, facing the opposite direction of me. I couldn't tell if he was simply thinking or if he just wanted me to get out of the car without even saying anything to him. I couldn't leave like that, though, so I said the first thing that came to my mind. "I'm really sorry."

He let out a long sigh and shook his head. "You keep saying that, Yuna."

"What else do you want me to say?" I asked, not bothering to take off my seat belt just yet.

Turning toward me, he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Nothing you say is really going to make this better nor is it going to change anything. You're going to miss my graduation, my graduation party, and your best friend's birthday, end of story. The most important day of my life thus far and you're not even going to be there."

"I know, I…"

He cut me off to continue digging into me. "My entire family is coming into town for my graduation and I was looking so forward to them meeting you. I talk about you all the time and…" He sighed again. "I just don't know."

Baralai was making me feel worse about leaving than Tidus ever did, but for some reason I didn't hurt as badly as I did when I left Zanarkand. Leaving for Bevelle was a permanent move and if it wasn't for my dad needing to move his research for a few weeks, I might not have ever seen Tidus again. "This is just a vacation, Baralai. I will be back in a few months."

"Months?" He repeated, raising his eyebrows at me. "You said 'weeks' before. Now all of a sudden it's 'months?'"

"No, maybe not. I don't know how long we're going to say. My dad said a few weeks, but eight weeks is a few weeks and also a few months. Who knows," I said, trying to back my tracks a little. "All I know is that my dad reassured me that it wouldn't be too long and _for sure _we would be coming back to Bevelle."

He was silent for a few moments. "All right," he finally stated, reaching out his arms to give me a hug. Quickly, I unbuckled my seat belt and returned the embrace. "Just… come back to me, okay? I'm really going to miss you."

I nodded and replied, "Of course I'll come back to you. I didn't have any other plans but to do that." I smiled when he gave me a kiss on the cheek, even though I knew that he was still pretty upset. "I'll have my cell phone on at all times too, so we'll still be able to talk every night and whenever else you want to, too."

"Yeah, true." He put his hands on my shoulders so he could move and give me a small kiss on the lips before resting his forehead against mine. "Okay, I won't hold you any longer so you can start your packing. Do you mind if I see you for a little bit tomorrow before you leave? I won't stay long, just a few minutes or so to say 'bye.'"

"I'd love to see you." I gave him a smile and he gave me another kiss. He tried to make it linger, but I backed away and nervously put a strand of hair behind my ear. We were in my driveway and I didn't want my parents to walk outside and see us kissing… it was embarrassing. "Um, just give me a call when you're on your way or something."

"Sounds good," he said as I opened up the car door and stepped outside.

I shut the car door, but the window was still open. "I will talk to you later then." I felt a little better since there was now a smile on his face, but only a little. We quickly exchanged good byes and I waved as he drove down the driveway and into the street before walking up to the door.


	6. VI

**November 8, 2008. Okay, so it didn't take me a year to update this time, but I do apologize that it took me THIS long. My muse kind of came back to me recently, so that's awesome... I'm just insanely busy with classes and stuff. (Last semester, hurrah!) I've had the majority of this chapter written for about the past 6 months and I finally managed to finish it today. I feel semi-accomplished! **

**VI**

It was the first day of summer vacation and I happily crawled out of bed at the glorious time of one o'clock in the afternoon. My mom still had to go to work for another week before her summer vacation started so that was why I was able to sleep in, otherwise she probably would've woken me up no later than nine to make me clean my room. I would get to it eventually, but I certainly didn't want that to be the first thing I did on my summer vacation. The only thing on my mind for today was blitz, blitz, and maybe a little more blitz to prepare for the camps I had in a few weeks. Position try outs started the day I arrived, so if I wanted to be a starting center and have any chance of the bigwigs from major blitz universities notice me, I had to be on top of my game as soon as possible.

I checked my phone quickly before finding some clothes to wear that day, and admitted disappointment when I didn't have any text messages or missed calls. Perhaps everyone was still sleeping… and Yuna was probably busy packing and getting ready to leave for Zanarkand.

I still couldn't believe that she was coming to Zanarkand for some time. The moment that she called me the day previous made it inevitable that things were going to be so different this summer than what I originally had planned. It was just a good thing that my blitz camps weren't for another month and a half, so I would be able to be with her the whole time. Not like it was imperative for me to be a tour guide to a town she knew so well, but… I couldn't describe it. I guess I was just excited.

… And 'being excited' was a feeling I only saved for blitz.

Shaking my head and chuckling at myself for allowing my brain to wander again, I walked over to my dresser and grabbed out the first swimsuit and wife beater that I could find, figuring that would be decent enough for blitz, and if I took the shirt off and lost it, it wouldn't be that horrible of a disappointment. My windows were open, so I could see the sun shining and feel the warm air coming into my room, which meant that my initial plans of spending the day at the beach playing said sport was still going to happen. Then again, I probably would've played anyway if it were pouring rain outside.

I managed to get ready in record time and leave my house by 1:20pm, and by the time I reached the Zanarkand coast, I quickly noticed how everyone and their dog had beaten me there. Being the first day of summer vacation, it was understandable, but it made me frown as I saw the plague of little children littering the beach, the shore, the _water_. It was going to be extremely difficult to actually practice any form of blitz without nailing a small child in the back of the head with a blitzball, and it didn't make me happy at all. Being banned from the beach for the summer for hurting someone was not a goal that I wanted to achieve but I have seen it done to a few of the upperclassmen in the graduation classes prior to mine.

Letting out a long lengthy sigh, I scanned the area anyway in search for a face that I knew to see if we wanted to move practice to another beach, even though I had a feeling that they would all be in the same child polluted condition. I stopped looking when I did see a familiar set of eyes meet mine from a distance away, and I tried my best to fake a smile as I half heartedly waved, for Lenne was someone I didn't particularly want to see. Not at the moment anyway. It was my summer plan to spend approximately 70% of my time playing blitz and the other 30% sleeping. Or, actually, the ratio was probably more like 60% blitz, 20% sleep, and the rest of the time bonding with my best friend again.

My thoughts came back down again when I saw that Lenne took the wave one step further and bounced her way over to me in a half jog, half skip type of prance in her skimpy, bright pink string bikini. She went over the line by instantly throwing her arms around me when she was in reach and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Hello, you."

"Yeah, hi," I said in reply, half shoving her off of me in a nonchalant way. I just wasn't feeling up to making out with her right on the beach on the first day of summer. Not that she didn't look absolutely amazing in that attire, it was just that I didn't want to be tied down with anything and she knew that. I hoped.

Making a face at me, she asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." I shrugged at her and continued to look around. "I'm just here to play blitz with Wakka and a couple of the guys, that's all. Have you seen them around or are they not here yet?"

She reached up her hands to tame her hair down from the wind. "How should I know? I'm not their babysitter, thankfully."

If I didn't know any better, I thought she sounded put off by the way that I didn't want to spend time with her at that second, but I really didn't care. She was with some of her friends anyway and I didn't want to deal with them talking about nails, clothes, and shopping. Being banned from the beach for an entire summer seemed like a lot more fun than a single afternoon with Lenne and her friends.

"Well," I started, walking away from her and only giving her a wave. "I'm off. See you later!"

I managed to escape from her claws without her chasing after me, and it would've been fantastic if that's how it would last for the rest of the summer. I knew I wasn't going to be so lucky since Wakka was having his party in a little over a week and she wouldn't miss it for anything. Unfortunately. I just silently prayed that having Yuna there wasn't going to cause a scene or any form of trouble.

Walking further down the beach and trying not to step on any children, I continued to look for Wakka and the rest of the guys, regretting the fact that I didn't give someone a call before heading down to the coast. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I stared at it for a minute debating if I wanted to call Wakka or Botta, and blinked in surprise when I received a text message.

Opening up my phone, I saw that it was from Yuna, which made me smile. All it said was, "I have a present for you when I see you. Two days!" followed by a smiley face. It was very like her to have her emails flowered with smiley faces, which always made me chuckle and shake my head. As I started to reply inquiring what said present was, I muttered, "You haven't changed a bit…"

"So, do you talk to inanimate objects on a daily basis now?"

Without looking up, I said, "Very funny, Wakka. I was wondering where the hell you guys were at." Turning toward him, I saw that he was there with Botta, Jassu, and Keepa, still holding the blitz ball, which proved that they didn't find a 10 foot span of ocean that was free of people.

"Trying to stay away from everyone in Zanarkand," he stated, lifting a hand to gesture to everyone around. "Perhaps if we would've woken up earlier, we could've roped off an area to safely play."

"Then we figured that would've been a bad idea since we'd have to break into your house to drag your lazy ass out of bed," Jassu added, giving me a gentle push on the shoulder as I put my phone in my pocket.

I shrugged my shoulders before crossing my arms. "And no doubt, I would've been cranky as hell. It's summer vacation. I refuse to go to bed any earlier than sunrise or wake up before the hour of noon. I'm very simple and live by only a few rules." Holding my hand palm side up, I pointedly looked at Botta and Wakka. "I also live by the rule 'pay up to lost bets.' That would be 150 gil, please."

"Dammit," Botta muttered as he reached for his wallet out of the back of his shorts and grabbed the money. "You always win your damn bets."

Handing me the cash, Wakka chuckled. "It's because he bets on his beloved Bevelle, that's why."

"When I watch the games, they win, and you know I never miss a single one. In fact, you guys should feel extremely lucky that the wager was only 75 gil each. Not sure why I didn't make it mo—" My text message alert went off, so I grabbed my phone again without finishing my sentence or putting the money away. I knew it was a reply from Yuna that probably told me she wasn't going to tell me what the present was. Checking, I saw I was right.

"Is Lenne already trying to get down your pants for the summer?"

I looked up at Jassu at his remark and shook my head before resuming the reply to Yuna. Closing my phone, I clicked my tongue against my cheek to change my answer to Jassu's statement. "Well, okay, yes, she is. I saw her walking around like a Yunalesca doll earlier, but she's the least of my concerns this summer. The less I see her, the happier I am."

"You don't want her to interrupt with best friend time?"

My jaw dropped slightly when I heard Wakka's comment, and managed to get out, "You… know? That… Yuna is coming to visit?"

"She might have given me a call after she talked to you." He was nonchalant about it all, and I wasn't sure why he didn't call _me_ after he talked to her. I guess it really wasn't any of my business, she _was_ friends with Wakka too. She wasn't just _my _friend when she lived in Zanarkand.

"Ahhh, so Yuna's coming back…" Keepa repeated, and I noticed that all three guys were eying me rather strangely.

"What?" I wasn't sure why I was receiving the look. Perhaps if I talked about her every four seconds since the day she left, I would've deserved it, but I didn't. Quite the opposite, really… knowing I rarely _did_ talk about her. The thought of Yuna was… distracting to say the least so I tried not to bring her up or ever think about her.

They remained quiet as they looked at each other then shrugged in unison. "It's nothin', Tidus," Wakka said as he chuckled a little bit. "It's just been a while since she's been back here and we're all anxious to see her again. Right, guys?"

Botta and Jassu nodded, each with that same smirk on their face. Dodging it all together seemed like the best option to keep those doors closed and prevent myself from saying something stupid, so I changed the subject. "Anyway, so about some blitz, I really don't think we're going to be able to play at this beach."

"Hey, Princess!"

I stiffened my upper body even before I felt two hands clamp down on my shoulders. Only one person ever called me by that nickname, and it was none other than Bickson. Lenne called me that one time for some unknown damn reason, and of course, Bickson was there to over hear it. The glorious nickname stuck something fierce with him and it made my blood boil every time he said it. "So Bickson, when do you leave for U of Z again?"

He chuckled and ran his hand through his wet hair. "Not until the end of the summer. By the way, thank your dad for me about the awesome recommendation that he gave me for U of Z."

"It's because he tries to push out that school's name in every way possible," I stated, trying to make it seem as though it wasn't Bickson's skills that got him on the team. I'm still not sure why he was captain of A-East's blitz team… he wasn't that great of a player. He was a ball hog without the defense or offence skills required for a one man team. "Kay. Nice talking with you, bye."

I gave mental signals to the four guys next to me for us to get the hell out of there, but Bickson spoke up before we got far. "I see you looking for a place to blitz, and I _conveniently _have a spot all roped off with a few people who want to play. Unfortunately, we don't have a team to play against, but you losers look like you have some time on your hands to get your asses handed to you in a 5 on 5 match."

"Ooh. That hurt," I said sarcastically over the poor insult that he threw at us. However, the choice he laid before us wasn't really a mind bender: Play with Bickson or not play at all. There have been two things in my entire life that I have loved… Blitz and my undying hatred toward Bickson, so it seemed only logical to make him eat those words. "Each member of the losing team has to pay 1,500 gil."

It was a steep bet, but I wasn't worried about it… and by the way the sane part of A-East's blitz team around me remained silent, I could tell that they weren't the slightest bit worried either. Bickson leaned down slightly so he was even with my face and said, "You got it, Princess."

"And if I score more goals than you, you drop the nickname." I was almost ashamed of myself for having to say such a thing, but it really was starting to get old after almost a year of him calling me that. I was confident in my scoring ability.

With a wave of his hand, he replied over his shoulder, "Sure, sure."

It was clearly an empty promise, but I wasn't going to delve too deeply into it because I just wanted to play some blitz. A match against Bickson would've been the best practice anyway since my burning hatred for him really would make me try harder. I exchanged glances with Wakka before we started to follow Bickson toward the roped off area.

--

It was nearly 6 o'clock by the time I made it back home after kicking Bickson's ass in blitz and I was feeling pretty damn good about myself. The 1,500 gil in my wallet and the supposed dropping of my awesome nickname making me feel that much better. However, the second I walked inside, my mother was running around the house like a lunatic in a bandana around her head with a dust rag in one hand and the bottle of cleaner in the other. It was quite rare to see my mother cleaning in such a manner during the week because she always had papers to grade or lesson plans to make, so Sunday was designated cleaning day. Today she looked like a woman on a mission, so I moved a few steps back as she charged in my direction.

Instead of running me over like I thought she was going to, she wrapped her arms around me in a huge hug and then pointed to my shoes. It was a good thing that I had my wet shirt off and mostly tucked into my back pocket or else she would've gotten wet herself. "Make sure you put your shoes outside to dry, mister, and not go trampling around the house in them."

"Yeah…" I said slowly, still being squeezed to death. "Mom, I can't _breathe_."

"I can't help it!" She gave me a final squish and then let me go. "I'm so excited that Ariana and Braska are coming into town in two days!"

Ah, so she got the call from Yuna's mom… the cleaning spree seemed to make a lot more sense now. My mom and Yuna's mom had been best friends and inseparable ever since the womb pretty much, and these past five years were the longest that they've ever spent apart. My dad was accepted into the University of Zanarkand on his blitz scholarship right after my parents were engaged, so of course she went with him, and Yuna's mom couldn't bear the thought of being away from her best friend and moved from Besaid at the same time. Sounds like a sweet story until Yuna's mom and dad dragged Yuna off to Bevelle and they were separated anyway. I'm pretty sure that my mom would've moved along with them if our lives weren't so entwined in Zanarkand already.

Unlike Yuna's mom, I couldn't trail after my best friend at the age of ten years old. Sure, for a long time, Yuna and I made really childish plans to be by each other again because it hurt to be apart, but eventually we just became immune to being separated. In all honesty, as I look back on it all, I'm glad that I wasn't old enough to follow her because we grew up and now have completely different goals. As time went by, I never thought I would see her again and I came to grips with life without her, I suppose. But now…

I knelt down to start taking off my shoes, and I watched my mom throw her dust rag on the counter, pull out the vacuum, and begin untangling the cord. She really had lost it if she was making more of a mess than cleaning. Throwing my shoes in the garage, I walked back inside to see her running the vacuum over the carpet so fast that I had to say, "Hey, mom… If you'd go a little slower, you'd probably give the vacuum a chance to actually pick up things."

She didn't hear me over the roar of the vacuum, so I shook my head in amusement. Walking over to the island in the kitchen, I tossed the dust rag off the pile of mail and started to leaf through the envelopes to see if I received anything. My BlitzStar magazine arrived as well as a letter from one of the blitz camps I was going to in a few weeks… and I was waiting for the letter quite impatiently since I signed up for the camp. Tucking my finger under the flap, I opened the envelope and pulled out the papers, quickly scanning them until I saw what I wanted to see; What members of what blitz schools would be at the final game to recruit early.

Of course my dad would be there as part of the representation for the University of Zanarkand, for he puts enough money into that damn school's alumni association each year that it would absurd if he wasn't there. He helped his team win the Crystal Cup every year and was one of the youngest players to ever receive MIP in U of Z's history. Thrilling. However, it really made me smile to see that Shuu, Bevelle's coach, and Zalitz, the owner of the team, would be there. Well, it made me smile and really hope that my idiot father wouldn't say something stupid to them.

I heard my mother shut the vacuum off. "Tidus. Clean your room. Now."

"Of course, mother," I replied, taking my blitz magazine and letter upstairs with me. Cleaning my room on the first day of summer vacation was exactly what I wanted to do.


	7. VII

**November 12, 2008. I sat down to reread the paragraph that I had written before tonight and then I managed to make this nearly 3,500 words. I have no idea how it happened... and I'm sorry if nothing really happens in this chapter. Like I said, I didn't expect it to be this long and I thought I was going to have to make something happen after this initial idea, but... well... it's long enough? Lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and I apologize if it's boring. -_-**

**VII**

It was amazing just how quickly the remaining days went before we were on our way to Zanarkand. It was a blur as I was packing up everything I needed as well as trying to say good bye to Baralai… and mentally prepare myself for seeing Tidus again. I wasn't sure how it would be… knowing our phone conversation three days prior was a rather awkward one, but we had been text messaging each other a few times a day which helped break the ice and make me feel a little bit better. In fact, it made me feel a lot better, but were things going to change when we actually did see each other? I couldn't be positive of that.

"Well, what do you think, Yuna?" My dad asked when we drove over a hill and were able to see the beach.

I didn't reply right away, but instead I took a few moments to just look around and absorb it all. We were finally in Zanarkand. After about 17 hours of combined drive time over two days, we had arrived in Zanarkand and I couldn't believe I had forgotten just how pretty it was this time of day. The sun had just started to set and I could see it between the buildings, resting on the water horizon with the pink and purple clouds in the sky. "Beautiful," was all I could say. Bevelle never looked like this no matter what time of the year it was.

The windows were down in the car, so I closed my eyes and just inhaled the sea air. It didn't matter how crowded and urban Zanarkand was, the smell of the ocean always seemed to overpower everything during every season. I almost wanted to cry and the reason wasn't clear to me. I think it was out of happiness… but almost out of dread because now I didn't _want _to go back to Bevelle and I hadn't even stepped onto Zanarkand soil yet.

I knew exactly where we were at in the city, and my pulse began to race… mostly in excitement. I did love Zanarkand and I always felt that it would be the only place that I would truly be able to call home even as I tried to adjust to Bevelle over the past five years. But now I wanted to jump out of the car and run to the beach, go to that smoothie parlor by the shore for a StrawBanana smoothie, run to our old house and see if that swing was still hanging from the tree. There were so many things that I have wanted to do since we _left _Zanarkand five years ago and I wanted to do them all at once.

When I noticed my dad making a turn onto 14th Street, I felt my heart skip a beat. "Hey, dad, I thought that we were supposed to turn on Pilgrimage Road…" Pilgrimage would've taken us to where our condo complex was so we could unpack and settle in for the night. 14th Street would've taken us… to our old house…

"Well, I think we should make a detour before we go to the place we're going to stay," he said, causing my mom to jump and grab my dad by the arm.

"Braska!" She knew what he was doing, as did I. My mom even let out a rather excited squeal at his intentions, where I wasn't sure what to think about it. "You're not…"

He chuckled before giving her hand a gentle pat. "Oh, perhaps I am."

"No way…" I whispered, sinking back into my seat and clutching the small stuffed chocobo in my hand that I had been holding since we started driving. The entire drive I had been trying to imagine the reunion scenario between Tidus and I, and I had come up with about a thousand different renditions both good and bad. My father's idea never even entered my thought process… but here I was, in the car… driving straight toward Tidus' house.

He was doing it more for my mom, for her and Tidus' mom hadn't ever been apart as long as these five years and it was killing her inside. It was as if she had to move away from a sister and she cried for weeks after we moved, but she couldn't imagine my dad leaving us for a long period of time on business. That's the real reason to why we moved to Bevelle and not because we just wanted a change in scenery. If it wasn't for my dad's job transfer, we most likely would've just remained in Zanarkand… but things don't always go as planned.

I think my dad knew that he was killing two birds with one stone by taking me to see Tidus as well. I didn't know what to think and suddenly I was very, very frightened. At least by going over there in my own time, _tomorrow_, I would've been able to calm myself down. Maybe. At least that was what I had planned these past three days as I thought about it nonstop.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my mom ask, "Does Saya know we're stopping on over?"

"Of course she doesn't," he replied, which made my mother and I both lean in toward him at the same time. "If she would know that we're coming over, what would be the fun in that?"

"What if she's not home? What if she's out?" Grabbing her purse, she started to fish for her cell phone. "Maybe I should give her a call and give her a warning or just make sure that she's home!"

"Ariana," he cut her off with a laugh. "You know Saya better than I do. You know that if she was to be coming into town, you would be doing nothing but cleaning the house until the whole place shined. Am I right?" My mother nodded. "So, you know she's home."

"You're right…" My mother stated with a very large smile. "I can't believe we're back in Zanarkand. I can't believe I'm going to see my best friend after not seeing her for five years…"

Without even thinking, I repeated part of her sentence. "Five years…" My parents didn't hear me, but I was just too in shock to say anything else for the remainder of the ride.

We pulled up to Tidus' house and again I felt like I wanted to cry. Nothing was changed and I think that was what made me feel so emotional. Even the same tulips were planted by the sidewalk, the same tree was flowering next to the porch, the same bird bath under the tree… it was as if we never left in the first place. Sure, the tree was much bigger but besides that… exactly the same.

"Oh my," my father said as he opened the car door and pointed in the direction of our old house. "Looks like it could use a new roof."

As much as I wanted to look at our old house, it was as if I completely forgot that we had ever lived there and only focused on Tidus' house. I grabbed the chocobo as I opened the door and stepped out onto solid ground for the first time in about three hours. None of us wanted to stop to stretch during that time, and I didn't realize just how cramped my legs had become.

Hearing the door open from Tidus' house, I whipped my head up to see Tidus' mom running out full force, squealing something fierce as she saw my mom. It was a rather entertaining sight to see the two of them acting like five year olds talking a mile a minute as they embraced tightly, but it was only natural to want to see your best friend that badly, wasn't it? My dad put his arm around me and gave me a gentle squeeze as he chuckled at the two of them.

"Oh Saya," my mom said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I missed you so much!!"

"Talking on the phone for two hours a day just doesn't cut it, I guess," my dad quipped.

When the two of them broke their embrace, Tidus' mom instantly came up to me and gave me a hug. "Yuna, you've gotten so big and so beautiful!!!"

"Thanks, Mom," I said, not even thinking twice. She _was_ like my second mom, which was why I always referred to her as that, just like Tidus' referred to my mom in the same way. It really made the bond between our two families that much stronger, I believed. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I asked, "is Tidus home?"

"Oh, no, he's not actually, honey." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone, flipping through it and then placing it up to her ear. "I'm going to give him a call right now. I know he'll come home the second I say you arrived here. If I would've known that you were going to stop on over, I would've made sure that he would've stayed home."

Giving my dad a gentle shove, my mom informed her, "if I would've known that we were going to make the stop, I would've called you hours ago! Braska decided that he wanted the element of surprise and not telling us until we turned onto 14th."

"You have no idea how happy I am that you are here, though. I was in the kitchen doing some dishes, I looked up and there you were…" Tidus' mom said, shaking her head in disbelief that we were standing right there in front of her. With a sigh, she shut her phone. "He's not answering his phone. I would leave a voice mail, but he never checks it. Perhaps you should give him a call, honey, he will probably pick up then."

I felt my heart sink, but I tried not to show my disappointment. I didn't really want to call him that instant in case he was doing something important, so instead I lifted up the small stuffed toy in my hands and said, "Oh, it's all right. I'm sure I'll see him soon. I just wanted to return this to him since I pretty much stole it from him the day that we left for Bevelle."

Tidus' mom laughed when she saw it. "Oh jeez, he looked for that thing for weeks and just had to come to the conclusion that he lost it! He never would admit that he still slept with that thing until the day you left, Yuna."

"Oh, I know he did," I stated, holding the ratty looking thing by both of its wings. It was very sad looking and it was something that Tidus had owned since the day he was born… which was part of the reason to why I took it before I left. It was almost like it was a part of him and I wanted to take it with me. _I _slept with it for years in our new house, and snuggled with it when I felt lonely even recently.

Fanning herself with her hands, Tidus' mom said, "Wow, it's so hot outside today. Why don't you guys come inside for a little while and maybe Tidus will come home. That'll surprise him, won't it!?"

My hopes again inflated as I nodded my head. Oh the look on his face he would have when he walked into the kitchen to see my mom, dad and I sitting at the kitchen table would be absolutely priceless. I practically led everyone toward the front door.

"Only for a little while though," my dad said as he gave Tidus' mom a hug. "We are having the moving truck come in sometime between nine and ten and we have to be there."

My mom pouted a little bit and nodded. "Ugh, that's right. All right… but for a little while we can catch up on things!"

"I would be lying if I said I didn't have enough cookies to fill a bakery." Tidus' mom quirked her lips into a small smile and I wasn't surprised. She was an amazing baker and whenever company was coming, she would spend hours in the kitchen making just about everything she could imagine. She would always give Tidus and I a few things to sample every time. "Jecht is at practice until late tonight, so he probably won't be home until you leave, I'm sorry."

"No, it's all right," my dad said with a small shrug. "We dropped in unexpectedly and I'm sure that we will see each other soon."

"You have to come over for dinner tomorrow!" Tidus' mom said as she hugged my mom again. "I have a seven course dinner planned out, so please say you will come over!"

My mom laughed as she said, "we don't have anything else planned except some unpacking, so of course we'll be here!"

That meant that Tidus was going to be there as well, so if I didn't see him before dinner tomorrow night, I would see him then. That was less than 24 hours from now… 24 hours to freak out.

--

I must've checked my cell phone about every thirty seconds from the second that we sat down at the table, seeing how much longer we had until we had to leave. I was hoping he would show up but we were running out of time. Calling him would've been a possibility, but what if he said that he was busy and didn't want to rush home and drop whatever it was that he was doing? Thinking about it, I was pretty sure that there was a blitzball game on and if Bevelle was playing, he wouldn't have missed that for the world. He was probably with Wakka or some of the other blitz guys that he hung out with from school… and I knew better than to interrupt a blitz player from a blitz game. Especially a blitz player such as Tidus.

"Mom," I said, referring to Tidus' mom. "I… guess Tidus isn't going to be home before we have to leave, so is it okay if I go put this chocobo in his room so he can have it back?"

"Of course, sweetie," she said with a nod and pointed in the direction of his room. "Oh, who am I kidding. You know where to go! It hasn't been that long."

With a smile, I scooted the chair back away from the table and started to make my way toward the stairs, only turning for a second when my dad said, "We'll be leaving in about five minutes, Yuna."

Clutching the chocobo closer to my chest, I turned the light on in the stairway and ascended the steps… looking at each of the pictures that were hanging on the wall. There was even one of Tidus and I when we were little, which really made me chuckle softly. I remembered when we took that picture and how we whined about how we didn't want our picture taken… it seemed as though it was taken yesterday. I stopped at what must've been a very recent blitz picture of him, for he really had changed over the years. Even though we exchanged emails for a very long time, we never thought to send pictures or anything, so I was quite shocked at how he wasn't the ten year old little boy with shaggy hair from next door anymore.

Exhaling, I continued my way to his room, but I had to stop again when I got to his door. I was so nervous and I wasn't sure why. I had been in his room ever since I was born and had more sleepovers with Tidus than I had with any other girl friend that I had, but now everything was just so different. I almost felt like I was trespassing. Placing my hand on the knob and holding in a breath as I turned it, I slowly opened the door and almost laughed at how the door didn't squeak anymore. Of course it had been fixed… although it always seemed like how many times his dad had fixed it, it would squeak about a week later.

I flicked on the light and took a look around, and wasn't surprised at how his entire room had been rearranged. A desk was where his bed used to be, his dresser and all of his blitz trophies seemed to have switched spots, a tv was mounted on the wall near his bed… it wasn't a little boy's room anymore. Then again, my room didn't have the huge doll house or toy kitchen in the corner either like it used to. Not sure why, but I shut the door again after I stepped into the room because I wanted some privacy as I walked around.

His room was very clean, which was very unlike Tidus, so no doubt his mom made him straighten everything up because of our arrival. Even all of his trophies were dust free, but I had to imagine that they always were anyway. He always seemed to be one to keep those shiny and looking like new… although there were so many now. They weren't just from little league Blitz anymore, but now from school competitions, blitz camps, and there were even a few balls signed. I didn't recognize any of the names of the players, but when I saw Wakka's name, I had to guess that they were balls from the last game of a season.

I only had a few more minutes and I didn't want to snoop around, so I went to his bedside table to find a sheet of paper where I could write a little note with the chocobo. I sat on his bed before I opened the top drawer and moved a blitz strategy book out of the way to see if there was a notebook underneath… then I slammed the drawer shut again in complete surprise to what I saw. "Oh yevon," I managed to squeak out, slowly opening the drawer to have another look.

Unfortunately, I was right at what I saw; under where that book was were several square little packages. I was completely aware that I was naïve but I knew a condom when I saw one and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. When I thought about _where_ I was sitting, I hopped off of his bed and felt the need for a shower right away. It surprised me that that my best friend wasn't so innocent anymore and I didn't know why that bothered me as much as it did. I wonder if his mother knew…

Probably not for I couldn't imagine that would be something he would want to tell her about, but still. I felt my lips turn downward in a frown as I put the book back in the drawer the way I found it and I walked over to his desk drawer hoping that I wouldn't find more of those things. Thankfully, the first drawer I opened had a notebook in it, so I flipped it open to a blank page, carefully tore the paper down the perforated edge, then grabbed a pen from the top of his desk.

I left a short but sweet note before moving his desk chair at an angle to face the doorway. I didn't want to put the poor innocent chocobo on his bed now because of what I found, so the chair was going to have to do the trick. Sitting the toy down so its feet were sticking straight out, I rested the note on its feet and made sure that it would be noticeable right when Tidus walked into his room. I wanted him to know that I had been there but I didn't want him to think that I searched through his things. I didn't _mean_ to stumble across private things after all. It was an accident… even if my brain would never forget what I saw.

"Yuna! It's time to go!" I heard my dad call.

"Coming!" Quickly putting back the notebook and the pen right where I found them, I turned off the light and shut the door again.


	8. VIII

**April 5, 2009. This chapter... I struggled with for months. I've had the beginning of it written for about six months now, but I just couldn't finish it mixed with the fact that last semester was my last semester of college and I was CRAZY busy with classes. Now I've graduated, so yaaaaaaay. However, I knew HOW I wanted to finish this chapter... it was just the 'getting to that point' part that was difficult. Oh well... it does seem a little dry at parts, I apologize. But hey! They might actually see each other soon~**

**And I fixed my typo, thank you for bringing it to my attention! :D That's what I get for changing the name of the thing at the last second... lol.  
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**VIII**

I now only had about 24 hours left until Yuna was going to arrive in Zanarkand and the countdown had officially begun in my head. Well, she would arrive in less than that really, but I assumed I wouldn't see her for about 24 hours because they would get settled in tonight. It was the seeing her that was important, not so much the fact that she was returning back. I didn't want to bother her and say that I wanted to see her as soon as possible, so I was more than thankful that Bevelle was playing again tonight. Wakka planned a small get together with a select few of the players from A-East, so it would keep my mind off of everything. I hoped.

I grabbed my keys off my desk before walking downstairs, and I was greeted by the amazing scent of my mom baking something. Entering the kitchen, I saw a huge pile of cookies, as well as muffins, a cake of some kind, and some other kind of coffee cake looking thing all arranged in a row on the counter. I grabbed a chocolate chip cookie that was still on the cooling rack and took a bite out of it. "Ow. Hot."

"Of course it's hot, it just came out of the oven," my mom said without regarding my presence, pouring some vanilla into a measuring spoon. "Where are you going?"

"Just over to Wakka's for a little bit to watch the game. Bevelle's playing against the Auroch's tonight," I informed her. She nodded even though she really didn't understand, which was rather ironic knowing that she hardly knew anything about the game and had two completely obsessed blitz players living with her. I opened the refrigerator and reached for the milk as I fanned my mouth to try to cool my now burning mouth. That chocolate was so damn hot right out of the oven, you would think I would've learned this by now knowing I do it every time my mother bakes something. Blinking and swallowing the bite in my mouth, I filled up a glass with some milk to wash it down. "What's with all the baking? It seems like Yevonistmas in here seven months early."

"You know why," she said, switching on the electric mixer before looking up at me. "Okay, I need your help for a second. I remember that Braska likes my chocolate chip cookies, Ariana likes those peanut butter cookies with the chocolate on top… but for the life of me, I cant' remember what Yuna's favorite is, so do you think I should just make a little bit of everything or…"

"Yuna likes your lemon cookies," I replied without missing a beat.

My mom smiled at me and jabbed her pointer finger in my direction with one hand as she turned off the mixer and put it down with the other. "Yes, I believe you're right."

I knew I was right. I would sneak them over to Yuna every time my mom would make them, then I would be scolded because they were usually for company. Yuna was practically always company, more like family really, so I didn't see what the problem was. Taking a few more cookies for the road and finishing up my milk, I added, "just don't make anything with coconut. She's allergic."

"Her mother is too," she said, wiping her hands on the towel that was over her shoulder before putting a few ingredients back into the cupboard. "I completely forgot about those lemon cookies though. I hope I still have that recipe somewhere in the abyss of my recipe holder. Oh well, I have to start making dinner soon, so I will have to look for it tomorrow before they come over for dinner."

I nearly choked on my cookie and this time I didn't have any milk left. "What? Dinner? Tomorrow?"

Looking over her shoulder before she shut the cupboard door, she nodded. "I'm assuming that they will be so busy getting settled in tonight and tomorrow that a nice dinner would be very welcoming, don't you?"

"Yeah," I replied slowly, finding it very difficult to swallow my cookie. I thought that I would be able to go over there at my own leisure when I was able to calm myself down, but now that they were coming over for dinner… I worked at the inside of my lower lip to keep a smile off of my face and I needed to leave to get my mind off of my foolish and boyish excitement. "Um, yeah, but I gotta get over to Wakka's and tease him about how Bevelle is going to destroy Besaid tonight. Jecht at practice?"

Shooting me a disapproving look, she sighed. "_Your father_ is at practice, yes." Pausing, she added, "wait! You're not going to be home for dinner either?"

"Sorry…" I did sincerely feel kind of bad, but staying at home would've made me really jittery… not to mention my mom making me clean nonstop. My room was done and that was about all she was going to get out of me, no need to scrub the place when Yuna and her family had been over when things weren't exactly tidy. Especially _my_ room. More often than not, my room was an absolute disaster whenever she came over, so if she was expecting everything spic and span, she _really_ must've forgotten all about me.

"Well, you have fun tonight then," she said giving me a small wave as she turned off the mixer. "Please be home at a decent hour?"

"Oh, all right," I said, not really enjoying how she was trying to enforce a curfew on me this summer. She preferred to refer to them as 'courtesy hours,' but it was a curfew because there wasn't any leeway. Midnight meant midnight and not five minutes after. "I'll be home around midnightish, I promise, mom."

The game wasn't going to last that long, so if I wasn't going to be able to hold my nerves down past the game, I would probably be home early anyway. It would make my mom happy since my dad was probably going to go out with his teammates after practice and I hated my mother being in the house alone with my dad when he was trashed. He wouldn't hurt her, but I felt the need to be the protective son.

"Thank you, Tidus," she replied with a smile and a nod. "Drive safely."

"Will do, mom." I gave the doorframe a small pat as I passed it and walked outside, giving the key fob a press to unlock my car door. I could've walked to Wakka's house, but now that I had a car (or 'borrowing the parents' car' as they liked to call it. It technically wasn't 'mine' but I was the only one who actually drove it) it was a lot more fun to just drive wherever I wanted to go. It gave me a sense of freedom.

Now all I had to do was get rid of that pesky curfew…

For some reason I wondered if it would change when Yuna came into town. Either that or Yuna would just spend the night all the time so I wouldn't have to worry about a curfew or anything. I assume at least. I mean, my mom didn't allow Lenne to spend the night but Yuna was different, wasn't she? We used to practically live at each other's houses, especially during the summer months, so I was hoping that wouldn't change now. But were we too old for sleepovers now that we were out of pjs with the grippy bottoms on the feet?

Shrugging, I put my keys in the ignition and started the engine. I really hoped time with the boys would keep my mind off the girl for 2 minutes because I was starting to drive myself insane.

--

"Dammit!!" Wakka exclaimed, putting his hands on his forehead and leaning back into the couch.

"That's another one for Bevelle!" I said, letting out a cheer and a reach for my soda. Thankfully Wakka's parents weren't home or else I would've felt bad because the six of us were extremely loud. Not just when one of the teams scored, but we were screaming at the tv through every play that they did and someone who didn't know anything about blitz, or understood the hype that we felt, would've been extremely confused. "I'm telling ya, Wakka, you really should just give up on the Aurochs. Besides the fact that they suck every season, how can you respect a team where the cheerleader's say 'do your best, Aurochs!'"

Jassu laughed and said, "Wow, Tidus. I never knew that you actually listened to what the cheerleaders say."

"Well, I figure if I stare at their asses for about 75 percent of their screen time, that gives the other 25 percent to kind of listen to what they're saying." Mostly, Jassu was right, but the cheerleaders did work hard to keep the fans interested. Being in the sphere, you couldn't hear a damn thing that they were saying… the crowd's cheers were always too overpowering. What a rush it was to be in that sphere… I couldn't wait until my blitz camps.

"And it's haaaaaaaaaaaaaaalftime!" The announcer said, causing all of us to get up and stretch for a few minutes before the game would start again. 15 minutes of commercials weren't that entertaining during a regular blitz game (however, during the Crystal Cup, the commercials were almost better than the game… almost), so I would rather get another soda and keep myself caffeinated. Not like I needed the sugar, I had been hyper enough as it was for the past few days thinking about what it was going to be like to see Yuna again. A lot can happen in five years… I'm sure she looked completely different. We should've sent pictures to each other every once and a while via email or something… I wonder why I never thought about it before.

Giving Wakka's brother, Chappu, a manly punch to the shoulder to change the subject on my mind, I said, "This year, you gonna be on A-East's team?"

"Well, if all goes according to plan, yes," he replied with a smile. He was going to be a freshman, and if I became captain this year – which, hopefully, was going to happen – I needed some great defense players. Wakka and I had been training the boy since he was basically born to be a star blitz player for A-East as soon as we graduated, so Chappu was on the right track. We needed someone to take over our lockers and carry on the tradition.

Just as I was about to reach over the counter for another soda, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket, making me jump about four feet in the air. "Yaaah!!!"

"You okay over there?"

I nodded to Wakka as I reached into my pocket for my phone to check to see who it was. Damn, I sure was jumpy. "It's my mom," I said to myself, a hint of disappointment in my voice that I wasn't able to hide.

I heard a couple of the guys chuckle and I looked over my shoulder as Wakka said, "She's not coming in until tomorrow, you know."

Instead of responding to him even though I knew that Yuna _was_ arriving tonight, I ignored him and put my phone back into my front pocket. It was, what, eight o'clock on the night Yuna and her family were arriving in Zanarkand? No, I wasn't expecting a call from Yuna tonight. Calling me meant only one thing according to my mom. "My mom probably is on the last minute cleaning rush and found something that she wanted me to do or something. She knows I'm out, so if it's really important, she'll just leave a message."

Waiting a few more seconds, it seemed like she wasn't going to leave a message. Therefore, it wasn't important. However, when I turned around with my soda in my hand, the guys were giving me inquisitive looks and I knew it had to deal with Yuna's return. I didn't understand why. Like I said, I didn't _pine_ over the girl while she was gone for 5 years. Moving on to Lenne made it look like I had moved on anyway, didn't it?

"Uh huh…"

"What?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders and trying to act innocent. "You all know my mom. She's been scrubbing the place high and low the past few days to make sure that everything is spic and span. She probably discovered a tiny cobweb on my ceiling room fan and wanted to scold me for it. Believe me, whatever it was, it can wait until I get home."

Wakka jumped over the back of the couch to stand next to me. "What if she was calling you to let you know that Yuna arrived?"

Crap. I didn't want to think about it and he mentioned it. I had to convince myself otherwise. "Nah, I doubt that. I think that would be important enough for my mom to leave a message, don't you think? Also, I know Yuna's mom… she would've called way in advance if she knew that they were going to make a stop at my house before going to the place that they're staying at for a few weeks. She's not one to do something so spontaneous." I wasn't going to add that I would hope that _Yuna_ would call me if she stopped over and saw that I wasn't home.

I walked back to the couch and sat down to continue watching the blitz game. There were still four minutes until the end of half time, but I wouldn't mind watching those commercials as long as it took the attention off of me for a few minutes. Odd, because I loved being the center of attention most of the time. Not today though.

"Now come on, let's finish watching the game so you all can pay me the money that you're going to have to," I said as I gestured everyone to come sit back down. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually listened to me and we watched the rest of the game without so much of a peep about Yuna for the rest of the time.

…That is, until I was about to leave.

"You should give her a call."

I was about 700gil richer than I was when I walked into Wakka's house, which was nice, but being cornered by Wakka wasn't the greatest thing in the world. Thankfully he had waited until everyone had left his house, but still. With a sigh, I looked at my watch to see that it was close to 10:30pm, which wouldn't have been _too_ late to call Yuna on her cell phone… and yet…

"My mom invited them over tomorrow for dinner," I replied simply as I started to make my way to the front door. "She's been driving all day today and she probably is sleeping by now, so I can wait until tomorrow."

Wakka let out a chuckle. "Oh really? You're like a four year old on Yevonistmas Eve right now, you know that, right?"

"What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow and lowered my hands back to my sides. I tried to look as nonchalant as possible even though I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"You haven't been able to sit still the past few hours to the point of me being surprised you were able to keep your attention on a three hour long blitz game," he said, opening the door for me and pointing out to my car. "It's not a crime to be excited about your best friend coming back for the summer and, to be honest with ya, I'm about ready to smack you. Why not call her and see if she wants to meet up somewhere? It's not that late, yeah?"

Okay, so perhaps I wasn't expecting that last part. In fact, my mouth opened, then shut… then opened and shut again. Finally, I was able to say, "I don't know. It just seems like I'm being too eager then, doesn't it? I'm not eleven years old anymore and it just seems like I'm too old to be breaking down her door after all these years."

He gave me a shove out of the door and I wasn't sure if I was expecting it or not. "Tidus. I'm telling ya now, break your pride a little bit. You were too proud when she left and you regretted half the things you said to her. Do you really want to be that way all summer when you only have a few weeks with her?"

Damn best friends. They _always _were right about things. I let out a sigh and reached into my pocket to clench my fingers around my phone, trying not to let my mind wander to the way that I acted when I found out that Yuna was going to leave and move halfway across Spira. As a matter of fact, I thought we weren't going to talk ever again after she left and I wouldn't have blamed her…

I took a few steps toward my car and gave Wakka a small wave as I said, "one of these days I'm going to owe you a lot for being my therapist."

"The bill will be in the mail by Monday."

Chuckling, I got into my car and put the keys in the ignition. I wish I knew where she and her family were staying for I would've just driven over there to see her. Well, I would've called her when I was outside so I didn't have to knock at the door at 10:30 and risk waking up her parents, but it would've been fun to surprise her. Perhaps my mom knew where they were staying...That sounded like a plan, so I drove home rather quickly so I wouldn't have to waste any time. I just hoped that my mom was still awake… otherwise I probably would've woken her up anyway. Damn Wakka, getting my hopes up!

As I walked into the house, it seemed rather quiet, but I did hear some talking from my parents' bedroom. My dad shouldn't have been home yet, so my mom must've been talking on the phone and I didn't want to interrupt her. Not really. I decided that I would go upstairs and change or fix my hair or something and maybe she would be off the phone by the time I made myself look presentable. Seeing Yuna was different than seeing the guys for a blitz game. For… some reason anyway.

Opening my door, I cringed as it creaked. My dad must've oiled that damn door every other week and it _still _made that hideous sound every time I opened it more than six inches. In a way, it was good because my mom couldn't sneak into my room early in the morning, but then if she did decide to do laundry early, she woke me up. It was kind of a double edged sword, really.

I used my elbow to flick on the light and walked over to my desk where my comb and gel was. I could at least put some gel in my hair so…

Wait… I noticed that my desk chair wasn't in the orderly fashion that I left in it, but that wasn't really what caught my eye. The little yellow bird that was resting on the seat cushion… Carter? My chocobo from when I was younger? I thought I lost him shortly after Yuna left and my mom must've found him again as she was cleaning the house like a madwoman.

"No way…" I said in awe and reached to pick him up. I stopped when I saw the piece of paper on his feet and gasped as I recognized the handwriting; 'Carter and I missed you! I'm jealous that he was able to see you first…'

Yuna…

Yuna was in my room! Yuna came over and I wasn't _home! _Yuna came over and my mom didn't call me… No! She _did _call me but probably didn't want to leave a message because she knows I never check my messages! I should've answered, but all my friends were staring at me and expecting me to do something embarrassing as I heard about my best friend coming into town. _Damn _my pride! _Damn damn damn!!_

I ran out of my room with Carter in one hand, I gripped the railing and shouted, "MOM!"


	9. IX

May 31, 2009. Holy crap, FFN (or my computer... probably the latter) is finally allowing me to upload documents!!! I've had this one done for quite a while but GAAAH, I couldn't upload it. Until now. :D SO here you go. Chapter X is about 80% finished, so that one should be up sooner or later. :D

**IX**

"Well, here we are! Home sweet home!" My dad announced as we pulled into the driveway of the condo that we were staying in. After we all exchanged looks, he added, "Er, home for the next few weeks anyway. But we're finally here!"

"So we are," I said softly as I looked out the window to see the place. It was … cute, I suppose. The condo complex was relatively new since it definitely wasn't there when we left five years ago and it was visibly smaller than our house back in Bevelle – as well as the house that we used to live in here in Zanarkand. For the meantime, it was going to be where we were staying while dad did his field work and I would have to suck it up accept it. Part of me just wanted to ask why we couldn't stay in our old house, but I knew that we couldn't just kick out the people who were living there currently. Seemed a bit rude…

With a sigh, I hopped out of the car, grabbing my purse, cell phone, and my suitcase before following my parents into the place. My dad had gotten the key when we were still in Bevelle, so all we had to do was walk right in and see how the decorator fixed up the place with furniture and whatnot while we waited for the moving truck to come with our personal belongings. It was supposed to arrive soon so we could throw everything into the condo, go to sleep, and unpack in the morning before dinner over at Tidus' tomorrow night. That was the plan that we discussed as we were yawning nonstop from Tidus' house to our new place.

"Oh hey, this isn't too bad!" My mom said as my dad opened the door and allowed my mother and I to walk in first.

She was right, actually, and I was able to agree more the more I saw of the place. It had a living room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and a small den, but it definitely wasn't 'home.' Home was back in Bevelle and the small frown on my face did kind of show that feeling, so my dad put his arm around me. "It's nice," I said to show him that I was going to be fine, even if the pit in my stomach had continued to grow. "I'm going to go into my, ah, my room and start to organize things or something. Just let me know when the truck gets here, please."

After my parents gave me a nod, I went into the room that I was going to be staying in. It wasn't 'my room'… but, again, I was going to have to deal with it. The room was rather on the small side with a _tiny_, non walk in closet _and_ I didn't have my own bathroom, which bothered me. I was just spoiled with the room I had back in Bevelle, but I was used to it by now. I was also bothered by the way the furniture was arranged for some unknown reason and I kind of wanted to cry. My bed back home in Bevelle was against the north wall and my dresser on the west wall just so it would match how it used to be when we lived next door to Tidus, and it was all backwards in this room. I wanted to change it, but it was too late to ask my dad and I wouldn't be able to do it myself.

It wasn't too early to start unpacking some of my things that I brought in the car, so I didn't have to wait for the truck or if the truck had issues and was going to be late. Nothing really too important; about a weeks worth of clothing, a couple of books, my diary, my laptop, toiletries, pictures, pillows, and an extra blanket. Even after setting everything up, I still felt homesick. I hadn't been away from Bevelle for two full days yet and I already wanted to just go back. I was so excited to come to Zanarkand too, and now…

I had to swallow the lump in my throat so I _wouldn't_ start crying. I was too old to be acting this way, but I couldn't help it. Perhaps I was just so tired from the car trip that I needed to just curl up in the bed in this new room and try to sleep through the night. This would've been the perfect time to have Carter with me, but I was kind of happy that I gave it back to Tidus. At least he would see that he didn't lose it after all these years and his best friend decided to take it with her when she moved halfway across Spira. Hopefully he understood the reason to why I did it.

Looking over at my phone that was charging on the nightstand, I debated texting him to let him know that we had arrived safe and sound at our temporary home. Then again, he would know that we arrived when he got home because his mom would tell him that we stopped over or he would see the chocobo on his desk chair. In a way, I felt that by leaving the note, I put the ball in his court and he could make the next move if he wanted to, or he could just wait until tomorrow when we had dinner together.

I sat down on the bed, grabbed my blanket and hugged my knees as I had a look around the small room. Even with all the pictures of my friends on my dresser, I just couldn't feel comfortable here for some reason. It wasn't even how the room was smaller than the one back home, it was just… different.

There was a small knock at my door a few minutes later and I heard my mother's voice. "Yuna? The truck is here."

Snapping back into reality, I rubbed my eyes so it didn't look as though I was ready to cry at any second, cleared my throat, then replied with, "I'll be right there." I was tired, but I didn't want my parents to have to start unpacking things by themselves. If all three of us helped the moving men, it wouldn't take half as long as if they did it themselves and I know that I wanted to go to bed. My dad was the one who had been driving the whole way, so no doubt _he _wanted to go to bed as well. At least he didn't have to start working until Monday, which would give him a few days to rest.

For now, there was much more unpacking to do, so I let out a sigh and left the room to help move the rest of the stuff into the condo.

--

I was tired. I _wanted _to sleep but, although I was hugging my baby blanket in bed, I felt too out of place in this room. Well, okay, that and the mixture of feelings of how I was going to see Tidus tomorrow after five years of being apart. Five years was such a long time in the grand scheme of things and I wasn't sure how things were going to go. It seemed near impossible to just pick up from where we left off, but I was hoping that things wouldn't be too horribly awkward.

The sound of my phone ringing scared the heck out of me, so I shot straight up in my bed as I reached over to grab it from the nightstand. As I looked at who it was calling me this late at night, I didn't even have time to pause before I flicked open the phone and said, "Tidus?"

"So, I hear that you are back in Zanarkand…" He didn't even need to wait a second or anything and his voice sounded so cheerful. The sound of my best friend's voice that I remembered from so long ago was not something that I would ever forget and it still sounded the same. Almost the same, anyway… his voice was lower than it was when we were ten but that was something I discovered on the phone with him a few days earlier.

My face broke out into a smile and I let out a small chuckle. "Oh yeah? How did you hear this?"

"A little bird told me."

I couldn't just sit down in my bed during this conversation (I always felt a little antsy when it came to talking to him for some reason…), so I pulled the covers off, walked to the switch and turned on the lights. "Ah yes, it seems that one might've escaped from being held captive for five years in a different city. It only makes sense that he would return to his former owner and tattle on said captor."

He laughed quietly, which made my smile even bigger. I missed his laugh. "I looked for Carter for _weeks _before I just gave up and thought that I lost him. To be honest, if it wasn't for your note, I really would've thought that my mom found him somewhere in some closet buried under a bunch of stuff while she was on a mad cleaning spree for three days. Now that I know that you took him, everything just kind of fell into place."

I started to pace the room to keep myself occupied with something… even though the room was so _small. _I just kind of walked around the bed one way and then back around the other way. "You're not angry that I stole him, are you?"

"No, not at all." He sounded sincere and I was thankful. I didn't want him to be angry at me since I did take his favorite childhood toy without as much as a warning. "You're basically the only one I would trust with Carter, so no worries."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I replied. It sounded like a compliment, right? "I made sure that he was taken care of and always had a front row seat on my bed. He was never thrown in a closet or anything!"

"You took better care of him than I would've, I'm sure," he stated, which caused me to laugh again. Even though he treasured the animal, he was a boy. Carter would've been abandoned in a box of old stuffed animals and put in the basement, no doubt. "I know it's kind of late, I'm sorry for calling, but I just wanted to say 'hi' and I'm sorry that I wasn't home when you came over for a bit."

"I figured you were watching the blitz game. Bevelle was playing, after all." I could still hear my parents out in the kitchen of the new place; the sounds of the pots and pans clanging as they were being put away in the cupboards gave it away. "And it's not that late, my parents are still awake," I said with a chuckle, not a bit surprised. "I bet my mom just got a little excited once she started to open up all the boxes and stuff."

"Oh, really?" He returned my chuckle with one of his own. I couldn't express how happy I was to not only hear his voice, but to actually know that I was in the same city as him. I was back in Zanarkand! The place that I called home for so long! "She's probably just excited to be back here again."

Even though he couldn't see me, I nodded and made an affirmative noise in my throat. "You should've seen her and your mom when they saw each other earlier. It almost brought tears to my eyes, actually..."

"I really wish I would've known that you were going to stop over," he said quietly. "I probably would've rearranged the blitz party to be over my place instead of over at Wakka's."

That... surprised me. Not just the fact that he mentioned his regret that he wasn't there when my mom, dad, and I went over there for a little bit, but that he would want to rearrange all of his plans so he would've been able to see me instead of having to wait. "Really?" I asked, quite flattered. "Well, I wouldn't have wanted to impose..."

"No, it would've been fine," he replied, which really caused me to blink in surprise as I took my phone away from my ear and looked at it. This was Tidus, right? I wouldn't dare interrupt one of his blitz games. I also didn't want to be the center of attention with him and a bunch of his friends all at the same time. I wanted to bond with Tidus a little bit first, or at least _see _him one on one before we had an audience of all of his friends. Granted, I knew most of them - especially Wakka - for years, but that was kind of besides the point...

"Ha, well..." I began, still quite speechless. I didn't want to seem too eager to want to see him, so I tried to play it off as nonchalance. "At least we will be able to see each other tomorrow. I hear your mom is going to be making us dinner, if you didn't know already."

With a playful scoff, he said, "oh, my mom already let me know and you can guarantee that she has a huge meal planned for you all. All your favorite dishes to go with your favorite desserts and stuff. You know my mom almost as well as I do."

"True," I agreed. With the exception of the past few years that I had been away from Zanarkand, I would say that I knew her at about the same level that I knew my own mother. The two women were so alike I was surprised they weren't twins that were separated at birth at times.

"So, ah," he trailed off for a second and I sat down on my bed to stop my pacing. I slipped my feet into my sandals since they were right at the edge of my bed anyway.

Silence followed, and I patiently waited for him to continue that. Nothing for a few seconds, so I politely rushed him with a, "Hmm?"

"It's a nice night outside."

That was awkward. We were talking on the phone for, like, five minutes and we already ran out of things to talk about so he adverted to the weather? Perhaps this summer wasn't going to be as great as I thought it was going to be after all… "Yes, it is. It's warmer here than Bevelle."

"Mmhmm~"

There was a knock at the door.

It couldn't have been him... Right?

I jumped out of bed again to stand up as I said, "No way..."

"Yes way," he said with another knock at the door. "You wanna let me in--"

Without thinking, I clamshelled my phone then threw it on my bed before bolting out of my room and entering the hallway just in time to see my mom open the door and let out a squeal. It wasn't as high pitched as the one she gave when she saw his mom, but it was still pretty glass shattering.

"Tidus!" She wrapped him in a huge hug and swayed back and forth with him for a second in excitement.

I was too in shock to do anything at all except stand there in awe that he was standing in front of me again. We weren't just talking on the phone, we weren't just in the same city as each other... he was _right there_. He was right there and I just didn't know what to do. I wanted to hug him, I wanted to squeal like my mom did, but I just couldn't do anything but stand there like an idiot as he hugged my mom.

He shook my dad's hand as my mom still had her arms around him and let out a chuckle when he saw me. "You know, mom," he said to my mom as she released him finally. "You might want to teach your daughter some manners. I don't know what they teach over in Bevelle, but I do believe it is rather rude to hang up on your best friend after speaking for only a few minutes."

My mom looked over her shoulder and playfully said, "That's not nice, Yuna..." yet I knew she was aware of why I did it.

"I didn't mean to hang up on him, I was just so... surprised," I said to my mom before taking a few steps closer. Okay, so I wasn't just shocked.... no, this was a feeling of fear. Why was I scared? It was just Tidus! I grew up with him, so there was no reason to be feeling as frightened as I was to be looking at him again. He was the same little boy that I knew a long time ago... only... now he was grown up. His eyes were a much brighter blue, his blonde hair actually styled for once instead of looking like a mop on his head, he had muscles… and then there was his _smile_...

But he was still Tidus. He was still my best friend.

He looked back at my mom again as I continued to stand about fifteen feet away from him. "I know it's kind of late, but do you mind if I steal her for a little bit? I promise to have her back soon."

Was I dreaming? Just to check, I gave myself a little pinch on the arm behind my back so he wouldn't see it. It was hard enough to believe that I was back in Zanarkand yet alone having Tidus want to spend time with me again. Not like it was something that I thought about nearly every day since we moved away, but I really didn't think that it was something that was going to happen so soon after arriving. I had barely become used to the smell of the salt in the air.

My mom must've seen the look of surprise on my face, so she gave me a smile. "I'm sure that Braska and I are going to be up rather late getting settled in. I originally wanted to wait to unpack tomorrow, but now that everything is here and I'm looking around the place, I want to do a lot of it now. So... I really don't mind."

Tidus gave a small laugh and waved his hand at me. I think he was trying to break me out of a daze, but I really wasn't in one. Not really, at least. Well, I don't know what was going on through my head because I couldn't formulate any kind of solid thought. "Of course, only if Yuna is willing to be stolen."

Whatever it was, I snapped out of it and nodded my head. "Oh yes, definitely."

"All right, let's go then," he said, holding the door open and pointing outside. Was that his car out there? He had his own car?! Not wanting to keep him waiting, I walked over to him and was suddenly thankful that I was wearing my sandals already or else I probably would've looked like an idiot and forgot to put them on.

"Thanks, mom," I said to her with a smile as she waved and shut the door behind us.


	10. X

**June 5th, 2009. I told you it wouldn't take me long to finish this chapter. :D I had most of it finished and I wrote up the last part of it today because I WANTED this one up. I love writing in his POV, it's so much different than Yuna's and much easier for some reason (which is why his chapters are always so much longer). His chapters are rather entertaining to me. Lol. :D Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**

**X**

There were many times in my life when I questioned my sanity, but this was definitely one where I surpassed that and just had to ask myself what the _hell _I was doing. It took me about two seconds after my mom told me how Yuna and her parents had stopped over before I ran out the door and hopped into my car.

…then I had to run back inside to ask my mom where they were staying so I actually knew where I was going.

It was near midnight and there I was; driving to the condo that Yuna was staying at. I hadn't seen her in five years, and even though they were coming over for dinner the following day, I just couldn't _wait._ I had to see her that very night or else I was going to go crazy and not be able to sleep at all.

Being sleep deprived and having bags underneath my eyes was not the first impression I wanted her to have after all this time. No, I had to look fairly decent, and I kind of did at the moment. I had to calm down my hair with the palms of my hand and a little gel that I actually had in my car, but I still looked somewhat presentable. I didn't want her family to think that I had turned into a complete slob after they moved away, nor did I want to look as though I was going to a formal dinner. I needed some kind of happy medium and I kind of achieved that.

I put my car into park at the address that my mom had given me… and then I had to stop and ask myself, again, what the _hell _I was doing? She was going to think that I had completely lost my mind to go see her at midnight when I knew she probably had a curfew. My mother had tried to give me one (even though I did obey the 'courtesy hours') so I was sure that Yuna's mom would do the same thing. The women were practically twins, especially when it came to their discipline and family rules, so I wouldn't have expected anything less.

However, I certainly wasn't going to just go knock at the door without knowing that her parents were up or giving her some kind of fair warning, so I reached into my pocket to grab my phone. I was lucky that I usually kept it in my front pocket or else I would've forgotten it in my mad rush to get over here. That would've been embarrassing… coming all the way here without any way of giving her a heads up that I was insane enough to show up so late.

The phone rang a few times before she answered with, "Tidus?"

She sounded surprised. Goal achieved! She also didn't sound like she was asleep either, so I considered that another win. I turned off my car and took the keys out of the ignition as I said, "so, I hear that you are back in Zanarkand…"

With a chuckle, she said, "oh yeah? How did you hear this?"

"A little bird told me." A smile appeared on my face as I congratulated myself on the cute pun. Okay, maybe it was a little lame, but… oh well.

My eyes darted over to one side of the house when the lights turned on. That must have been her bedroom, so I had the right house. "Ah yes, it seems that one might've escaped from being held captive for five years in a different city. It only makes sense that he would return to his former owner and tattle on said captor."

As I opened my car door, I laughed softly so she couldn't hear my car making any kind of noise. I needed to be stealthy on this one. "I looked for Carter for _weeks _before I just gave up and thought that I lost him. To be honest, if it wasn't for your note, I really would've thought that my mom found him somewhere in some closet buried under a bunch of stuff while she was on a mad cleaning spree for three days. Now that I know that you took him, everything just kind of fell into place."

"You're not angry that I stole him, are you?"

"No, not at all." I wasn't, truly. I just wish I could've been home when she returned him. "You're basically the only one I would trust with Carter, so no worries."

"I'll take that as a compliment." My lips turned into a small smile and I slowly made my way over to her bedroom window. I needed to be positive that it was her room. "I made sure that he was taken care of and always had a front row seat on my bed. He was never thrown in a closet or anything!"

"You took better care of him than I would've, I'm sure." I winced as I stepped on a small stick. Oooh. I hope she didn't hear it snap. "I know it's kind of late, I'm sorry for calling, but I just wanted to say 'hi' and I'm sorry that I wasn't home when you came over for a bit."

"I figured you were watching the blitz game. Bevelle was playing, after all." I suppose some things hadn't changed. She still knew me entirely too well for my own good and knew I would never miss a Bevelle game. "And it's not that late, my parents are still awake. I bet my mom just got a little excited once she started to open up all the boxes and stuff."

"Oh, really?" I had made it to her window and I tried to look in without her noticing me and thinking that I was some creeper or stalker. I didn't want her to scream, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about waking her parents up since they were still awake. "She's probably just excited to be back here again."

Crouching down, I went under the window sill and slowly peered in. It was Yuna, all right. I was looking at her back, but there was no mistake that my best friend was standing less than ten feet away from me and I bit my lower lip as I smiled. "You should've seen her and your mom when they saw each other earlier. It almost brought tears to my eyes, actually..."

I ducked once again when I saw that she was starting to turn back around (was she pacing?), and turned so I could rest the back of my head against the brick under the window. "I really wish I would've known that you were going to stop over," I said quietly, looking up so I could see the bottom of the window sill. "I probably would've rearranged the blitz party to be over my place instead of over at Wakka's."

She paused for a second, and I couldn't tell if it was because of disbelief or of shock. It wasn't a lie, I really would've tried my best to nonchalantly rearrange the entire night so she could've been there. Or something along those lines. "Really? I wouldn't have wanted to impose..."

"No, it would've been fine." I _sounded_ confident with that response… so that was a plus. It would've been an awkward situation to try to work around the plans without seeming too desperate to see her again with all my friends. I guess it didn't matter in the long run as long as I was able to see her. Besides, she had been friends with them all too when she lived here.

"Ha, well... At least we will be able to see each other tomorrow. I hear your mom is going to be making us dinner, if you didn't know already."

I scoffed and started to make my way to the front door. Enough small talk. It wasn't _that _warm outside at night and the side of the house was rather chilly. "Oh, my mom already let me know and you can guarantee that she has a huge meal planned for you all. All your favorite dishes to go with your favorite desserts and stuff. You know my mom almost as well as I do."

"True." If she wouldn't have agreed, I would've argued with her.

"So, ah," I trailed off and found myself at her front door. Why was this so awkward?

I didn't know what else to say without bluntly saying that there wasn't much separating the two of us anymore, so I just kind of tapped my foot and lifted my hand to touch the doorbell. I didn't ring it, but I just let my finger rest upon it so I would gain the courage to do this. Okay, maybe it wasn't awkward… maybe I was just nervous.

She sensed my hesitation, so she let out a, "hmm?"

Crap. I felt cornered and I needed to do something. "It's a nice night outside." Nice, Tidus. _Very _nice and very _lame._

"Yes, it is. It's warmer here than Bevelle."

Okay, Tidus, do it! "Mmhmm~" I moved my hand from the doorbell to the door and actually knocked a few times.

"No way..."

I was so happy that she heard the knock. I didn't think it was loud enough for even dogs to hear.

"Yes way," I said, knocking a little bit louder this time. "You wanna let me in or do you want me to…" I heard a click, so I looked at my phone and said out loud, "she definitely just hung up on me. Thanks, Yuna…"

The door opened and I jumped and nearly dropped my phone. It was Yuna's mom and she definitely let out the highest pitched squeal I had ever heard in my life. At least I felt welcomed! "Tidus!"

"Hi, Mo—" I wasn't able to finish the word before she grabbed me into a hug, trapping both of my arms awkwardly in the air. Swaying with me back and forth, I had to laugh. The woman hadn't changed a bit. Seeing Yuna's dad a few feet away, I tried to wave, but it didn't work out so well with the way my arms were, so he bridged the gap and shook my hand.

I always did love Yuna's parents. Even though Yuna's mom was so much like my own mother, her father was amazing. Maybe I was just used to my own _amazing _father that made me want to have a dad like Yuna's… he was so successful and hardworking. Hell, he was _doing _something with his life instead of sitting on the couch and drinking the afternoons away before practice at night… then more drinking.

My thought was interrupted as I looked over to my left to see Yuna standing there, staring at me. Where was her phone? It was then when I wished I had the ability to read minds for the look on her face didn't give _anything _away. She was standing there in complete… shock? Surprise? Disappointment? Maybe my hair needed to be fixed a little more? I sure hope her mom couldn't feel my heart pounding out of my chest the second I saw her. Talking would make it seem a little less obvious, right?

"You know, mom," I said, nearly letting out a sigh of relief when I was released. Not only could I keep my racing heart to myself, but I could breathe again. I was only able to look at Yuna's mom for a second before my attention went back to Yuna. Wow… she… did change quite a bit. Enough staring… "You might want to teach your daughter some manners. I don't know what they teach over in Bevelle, but I do believe it is rather rude to hang up on your best friend after speaking for only a few minutes."

Her mom turned away from me to look at her daughter. "That's not nice, Yuna..." She seemed to have a sense of joking in her tone, which was good. I think that Yuna was just so surprised and that was why she did hang up with me. Or that was what I was trying to convince myself because what if she didn't want to see me and here I was standing like an idiot in the foyer? There was going to be a bout of awkwardness soon if that was the case.

"I didn't mean to hang up on him, I was just so... surprised." She took a few steps closer, like she was approaching a wild animal or something. Surprised was good… being frightened was not. I started to lose my nerve once she stopped walking.

Therefore, I looked to her mom and said, "I know it's kind of late, but do you mind if I steal her for a little bit? I promise to have her back soon."

She turned to Yuna and gave her a gentle smile, probably to calm her down a little. "I'm sure that Braska and I are going to be up rather late getting settled in. I originally wanted to wait to unpack tomorrow, but now that everything is here and I'm looking around the place, I want to do a lot of it now. So... I really don't mind."

This was when I wanted Yuna to say something, not just continue to stand there with her eyes wide. I had thought of a lot of scenarios in my head on the way over… this wasn't one of them. I waved at her for a second as a greeting of sorts, as well as a way of telling her that she could walk closer and I wasn't going to bite her. I only did that once when we were four. "Of course, only if Yuna is willing to be stolen."

Finally, she broke out of whatever trance she was in and nodded her head. A good response. This was good. "Oh yes, definitely."

"All right, let's go then." I pointed out the still open door to where my car was sitting in the driveway.

She looked at her mom as she walked out the door and said softly, "Thanks, mom."

I waved back to her mom before she shut the door and I walked next to Yuna and opened the car door for her. She looked impressed and thanked me before sitting down. Of course I was going to open the car door for her; she was one of my closest friends. It was something I still didn't do for Lenne, but I didn't want her getting the wrong idea. She wasn't my girlfriend and never _would _be worthy of the girlfriend status. Opening the door for Yuna was different though. At least I tried to convince myself of that.

I cleared my throat as I got into the car, then sat back in my seat and tilted my head over to her. She had a smile on her face as she looked at me, and I was happy that it was dark outside because I think I was blushing. How embarrassing. "Hi."

Okay, she blushed too. We were even. "Hi." She looked down at her hands that were in her lap and I started up my car. "This is a surprise."

"Yep, that was the purpose," I stated, pulling my car out of the driveway and onto the street. I had hardly gotten over the fact that I was driving to her house, so processing that she was in my car next to me was still going to need some time. By the time it would hit me, I would have her home already. I did tell her parents that I wouldn't keep her out late, but I wanted at least an hour with her. There was so much to catch up on and I know that we wouldn't be able to cover it all in an hour, but it would be a good start. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" She asked, turning her head up to look at me again.

I shrugged. "For getting you out of bed." In her shorts and tee shirt, it looked as though she was going to sleep in them. Not to mention that her light was off when I first got there, so she must've been sleeping. Or attempting to sleep. Being in a new bed in a new place was never easy and I know how hard it was for her to get a good night's sleep when she moved to Bevelle. I wonder if her parents ever knew that we had stayed up so late so many nights just so we both would be able to sleep…

"Oh, don't worry about it," she stated, pulling her shorts down a little bit. "I wasn't really sleeping. I had just finished showering after helping my parents unpack the moving truck so I had a while to go before I actually allowed myself to sleep."

There was a moment of silence. Oh how I hated silences, but I just didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, she continued. "So, ah, where are we going?"

"No clue," I responded, taking a right hand turn onto the main drag. "There's a lot to do on a Saturday night in Zanarkand, but unfortunately, we're too young to do most of them and I promised that I wouldn't keep you out too late." I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter with my right hand and dangled my left out of the window. "Just… when I saw that you had stopped over and I wasn't there? I needed to make it up to you."

"Your mom told me call you after she did," she stated, putting her hair up in a ponytail with the hair thing around her wrist. I glanced over at her in question. Why didn't she call me then!? "I just figured you didn't want me to interrupt your blitz game."

Why was this a concept that she understood, but Lenne could not? I chuckled and shook my head. "It's different when it's you, Yuna. You knew I was waiting for you to arrive in Zanarkand, so you could've called me the second you breeched the city borders and it wouldn't have mattered what I was doing."

…that seemed really desperate and almost pathetic, but she did smile over it.

"Oh," she replied softly, the corners of her lips turning up into a smile as she looked back down at her hands in her lap again. Her hair was up or else she would've tucked her hair behind her ears like she did when she was nervous, I was sure of it.

The best part about Zanarkand was that you were never far away from any beach, no matter where you were in the city, so I figured that would be the safest place to talk and allow her to have a taste of the city that she used to call home once again. Pulling into a parking lot, I looked at her and asked, "a late night walk on the beach, okay?"

She nodded. "This is something we always talked about doing but we were too young to do so."

"How could I forget that?" I asked, not allowing her to figure out that I almost _did _forget that. "We really were good kids, you know. We could've climbed out of our windows and snuck out after our parents sent us to bed at 9:30."

"How?" She giggled as we both got out of the car. "Our rooms were both on the second floor and there weren't any trees to climb down or anything. Sneaking out would've meant that we broke all of our limbs in the process."

I shrugged and we started to make our way toward the beach. "Nah. At least out of my room, you can grab the gutters, climb down the roof, and jump down. It hurts your feet when you land, but it's completely possible. I've, ah, done that once or twice." She gave me a rather disappointed look and I swear I saw her mother scolding me in said look. "What?"

"Not sure why that surprised me, that's all," she replied, turning her head forward again to look at the shore.

"I said 'once or twice,' not a million times." I wasn't sure why I felt the need to explain myself, but at least I smiled while I did it. "Sneaking out usually involved playing a late night game of blitz, so it didn't mean I was going to the club or getting completely wasted or anything. Not much has changed since you went to Bevelle."

I expected some kind of a reply, but instead she just nodded and sat on one of the picnic benches by the water. I never really thought about it before, but I wasn't sure how those benches weren't pushed into the water. It sounded like something I would do.

Sitting next to her, I waited to see if she would say anything. She didn't. It just seemed as though she was absorbing the scenery and the salt in the air; something she most definitely didn't have in Bevelle. There was water, but not like this. Nothing was like Zanarkand and I was very proud to call it my hometown.

"So," I started, leaning forward to rest my elbows against my legs. "What's it like to be back?"

Letting out a slow breathy laugh, she opened her mouth, and then shut it again. She slowly turned her head to me and said, "It feels unreal. I feel like I just… left everything behind when my parents told me we were moving to Bevelle and now? I feel like I left everything from Bevelle to come here."

It was an odd answer and something didn't make sense. "I understand the first part, but you're going to… go back to Bevelle, aren't you?" Part of me didn't want her to say that she was. I felt selfish.

"Well, yeah." She responded too quickly for my taste and I think my face fell a little. "But I feel a little guilty."

Wait, what? "How so?"

She exhaled through her nose and leaned back against the table. "I've been back in Zanarkand only a few hours and at first the only thing I could think about was how badly I wanted to go back. Kind of like how when I went to Bevelle, Zanarkand was the only thing I thought of every minute of every day. You know this because we used to talk about it all the time."

I could tell there was more to that, so I helped her out, "but…?"

"But now?" She trailed off, taking off her sandals and digging her feet in the sand. This intrigued me quite a bit and for some reason I felt a sense of winning. I don't know what I was winning, but it was the same feeling I get when I know that there is only thirty seconds left in blitz and we're up by two points. "Being here on the beach where it's about 80 degrees at midnight, listening to the waves, being with you again? I don't want to go back so badly anymore and I feel guilty for those thoughts."

Before I could stop my thoughts from coming out, I said out loud, "maybe it's because Zanarkand is your true home."

I bit the inside of my lip the second I heard the words come out. _Not _what I wanted to say. Or rather, it's what I wanted to say, but my brain didn't filter the sentence and it came out anyway.

However, instead of disagreeing with me and walking away like I thought she was going to, she continued to look at the waves, smiled, and in almost a whisper, she said, "maybe you're right."

I most _definitely _did not expect that answer. I chuckled softly and said, "heh, maybe I am."


	11. XI

**October 19, 2009. Uuuuuuuuummmmmm.... I didn't realize how long it had been since I last updated. 0_0 I really apologize... it's not even the most entertaining chapter ever, but I have a lot of issues with Yuna's chapters. Tidus is so much easier to write, which is why I'm happy that the next chapter will be in his POV. lol. Anyway, again, sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy!**

**XI**

I lifted my head quickly and whipped my head over at Tidus. "Wait, I didn't mean that…"

What a stupid way to try to backpedal from saying what city was my home. I wasn't even sure why I was defending myself on if Zanarkand was more my home than Bevelle… I lived in both places, so why couldn't _both _places be my homes at different times in my life?! There were different aspects of both places that I absolutely loved and it didn't mean that I loved one more than the other. No. I loved them the same.

"Didn't mean what?" he asked, not looking like he expected me to retract my statement.

"I don't know," was all that was able to say, now feeling completely sheepish. With a sigh, I looked back down at my hands to think of what it was that I could say to make either of us feel better. He looked rather disappointed. I could really understand why and I felt absolutely horrible. I had been back for less than a day and I already managed to make him disappointed in me. Some great record that I had started out here.

Lucky for me, he managed to catch on to what it was that made me completely ashamed of myself and he laughed. I think he was laughing out of nervousness and still a tinge of disappointment, but he laughed nonetheless and that kind of made me feel better. Kind of. "Yuna, don't worry about it. I mean, it's not like I expect you to pick Zanarkand to be your home, so you don't have to say it just to make me feel better. I… was just talking out of my ass. "

I chuckled softly with him, even if he was just trying to cover up his disappointment. It always was like him to try to make me feel better. The only time he ever made me feel worse about something was when I moved away, but I always tried to put myself in his shoes. It hurt to move away and I'm assuming that it was just extremely painful for him as well. "Regardless," I started, shaking the sand off of my toes. "It's a wonderful feeling to be back here in Zanarkand. Especially in the summer."

He stood up and stretched his arms over his head before gazing back down on me. "Ya know," he started. There was such a long pause that I actually raised my eyebrows at him and gave him a shrug of my shoulders so he would continue. "Oh, it's just, well… I never… thought…"

"What?" It wasn't like Tidus to be lost of words. Whatever he was going to say was going to be pretty important or else he would've just spit it out. "You never thought what?"

His hand went on the top of my head and he tousled my hair a little bit. Clearly he was trying to lighten the mood again. "I kind of thought that the next time we would see each other would be purely by chance on the streets of Bevelle when I went to college."

I looked down at my knees. "You didn't think I would ever come back." It was a rather harsh assumption, but I really did see where he was coming from. To be honest, I _didn't _think I ever would've returned to Zanarkand on my own terms. I loved the city more than anything in the world, but I always felt that returning there would mean I would turn my back against everything I knew and loved in Bevelle. I felt that I had to turn my back on Zanarkand when I moved and that hurt enough, so I didn't want to have to do it again. I never really thought about it because I didn't _have_ to turn my back, but after all the fights Tidus and I got into, I almost felt like it would be for the best.

It just hurt more in the long run to do that.

Even being there on the beach with Tidus, looking off at the reflection of the moon on the water, it still felt like a dream. I was going to wake up back in my room in Bevelle and think about how nice of a dream it was to see him again. It was a situation that I _have _dreamed about on more than one occasion, so I gently pinched myself to make sure that it was happening. I just arrived in Zanarkand six hours previous and he and I were hanging out again. It was… how I wanted it to be, but I never in a million years thought that it would've turned out that way.

It was nice. Very nice… and a small smile appeared on my lips again.

"Whoo!" He let out an exhale and I whipped my head up at him in surprise of the exclaim. "All right, it's getting a bit serious here! How about we get back onto our walk and I'll show you a bit around the beach before I have to take you back home? I don't want your parents angry at me the first day that you guys are back!"

I reached down to pick up my sandals then stood up to start walking next to him. The sand was cool on my feet, which I believed was one of the best feelings in the world, so why ruin it by covering them with sandals? I followed him closer to the water, quite thankful that he changed the topic of conversation. It was getting a little too serious for me and I wasn't ready to have that walk down of 'what ifs' and 'what could've been' if I had stayed in Zanarkand.

Even if that wasn't where our conversation was going to go, that was where my mind was going to go. I already started to wonder how my life would be different and what would've changed if I had stayed in Zanarkand from the second that I saw the city limits sign on the drive over. The answer to that was 'everything.'

He wrapped his arm around me in a half hug and gave my shoulders a squeeze. "Hey, loosen up, Yuna! It's summer time, you're back here for a little while, so let's enjoy it while we can and not have to worry about things. Its, ah, time to live in the now or live for the now… or… or whatever that expression is."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I apologized, tucking my hair behind my ear and shaking my head. "It's still just so surreal to me and I really… I really –"

He covered my mouth with his hand. Again, I couldn't have appreciated anything more because my statement was going to be another stroll down memory lane. Zanarkand _had _become a memory for me and it wasn't one that I ever thought I would revisit. I hated that thought but I couldn't help from it appearing in my head over and over again. "Say no more."

"Yes, sir," I said, words muffled. Even after all those years that had passed, he still knew what was going on in my mind. He didn't have to confront me about what I was thinking, he just _knew_. It was something that always made me admire Tidus and a really strong quality that made him my best friend. Over the years things have changed about him, but that was the one thing that I never wanted him to change.

It was what made me feel like I was _home. _

"It's a shame that it's so late and dark." He flicked his wrist in the direction of the city.

"Are you… serious?" I asked, looking at how bright everything still was. Sure, the lights around the beach weren't turned on or anything, but when it came to the tall buildings that were in the city? You couldn't even see the stars, the sky was so bright. That was something I had forgotten about, apparently. "I really don't think I ever saw a star until I moved to Bevelle, Tidus."

"Yeah, I'm serious." He redirected me away from the shore again, held me by the shoulders to stop me, and started to point at various things. "There's a lot of things that have changed around here that I would like you to see. Check out the smoothie shop."

I looked where he pointed. "Rin's? I used to love that place…" With the minor exception that it had some rather sad memories around the time I was going to move. Whenever Tidus and I had gotten into a fight or things became unbearable that I was going to leave everything behind to move to Bevelle, Wakka and I would meet up and talk about things. Besides that, it was the after school hang out for all of us to spend our allowances on smoothies and ice cream.

"Same ownership, but they completely redid the inside of the building, gave it a new sign, and put up a bunch of lights and tiki torches around it. It seriously looks like something you would find in Besaid!" He chuckled softly and changed the position to where he was pointing. "That building right there?"

I couldn't miss it, but I had definitely never seen it before. "Oh yeah, that's new!"

"Yep. The city council built a kind of a, what they like to call, 'a fun place for the young'uns to have some clean, safe fun.' I've only been there once or twice and found it more or less a daycare center for elementary kids and I'd rather be out in the water playing a good game of blitz, but we probably would've loved it when we were younger." He started to walk again and gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I think the parents of the younger kids had started to complain about the safety of their kids in the water. There had been some cases of people getting hurt from things like," he cleared his throat, "flying blitzballs and whatnot."

With a small laugh, I had to ask, "oh jeez, you didn't hurt anyone, did you?"

"No, not me." I was surprised by that response, but I wasn't going to tell him that. "Last summer some of the upperclassmen were banned from the beach for the summer for bopping a child in the head. Not gonna lie, it was kind of funny, but talk about ruining your summer!"

"Yeah, that would be rather disappointing." Tidus and I had practically _lived _on the beach during the nice summer days, which was usually 6 out of the 7 days of the week, unless it was raining. I suppose that's when the youth center would've been fun for us when we were younger. It would've gotten us out of the house. "I can't wait to spend some time on this beach again!"

He gave me a once over and clicked his tongue against his cheek. "You could use a little time in the sun knowing that you definitely don't have a tan anymore. Did you ever spend time outside in Bevelle?"

"Not as often as Zanarkand, I can tell you that. It's a lot colder in Bevelle year 'round and not a whole lot to do outside." I didn't want to tell him that I had spent most of my free time inside with my nose in a book, but it was the truth. I didn't have time to go outside and run around like he and I did when we were ten. I had to get into Yunalesca University and get some kind of scholarship no matter what the cost was and unfortunately, that cost was studying 24/7 and not having any free time whatsoever. It was my choice and if I got in, it all would've been worth it.

"No worries, I'll get'cha outside and into the sun if I have to drag you and chain you to one of the picnic tables! I'll spray you with sunscreen first so you don't turn into a lobster, but don't think I won't do it!" The smile on his face proved that he wasn't joking and would enjoy every second of doing that to me. The look on my face was one of slight horror at first, then I just had to laugh at him.

"Oh, Tidus…" We had reached the parking lot again, so I slipped my sandals back on my feet. "Eeeh, that wonderful feeling of wet, gritty, sandy feet in dry sandals. I didn't miss _that_ feeling…"

"Of course you did," he said, tapping his sandals against the asphalt to shake off the dry sand. "It's part of the ambience of Zanarkand in the summer, don't you ever forget that. Kind of like sand in your bathing suit. As much as you hate it at the time, I'm sure you missed it during the freezing, snowy winters in Bevelle!"

I thought it about it for a second then slowly nodded my head. "Yeah, you've got a point there…" Especially the first winter I had to go through in Bevelle, there was nothing I wanted more than to be sitting on one of the beaches in Zanarkand, sitting at a picnic table and doing my homework. I hated to look at the snow and not want to leave the house because I hated being cold.

He actually shivered at the mere thought. "Ugh, that's the one thing that I'm not looking forward to when I go to Central Bevelle next year. I'll probably stay all holed up in my dorm room because I like being _warm. _My idea of winter is the low 70s and still being able to swim in the ocean in the middle or winter if I wanted to."

"You're still planning on going there, huh?" That was so close to Yunalesca, which made my lips turn up into a small smile.

"Yeeeep." He unlocked his car and opened the door for me to let me in. "That is, if I can maintain my GPA and get the application all shinnied up and pretty." He shut the door and made his way around to the driver's seat as I fastened my seat belt.

"I'm sure you'll get accepted!" I said cheerfully as he sat down and put the key in the ignition. He was excited about it, yet there was a grim look on his face. I knew him and his family well enough to know exactly what it was that he was thinking. "Your dad doesn't know you want to go there, does he?"

"Hell no." He scoffed and turned the key to start the car. "My mom is proud of me and wants me to go wherever I want to go, but my dad is going to be so royally pissed off when he finds out that I'm going the rival college of his precious University of Zanarkand. Don't care~"

Yes, he did and he didn't want to admit it. I think. "Does he know you're considering it?"

He shook his head and chuckled. "My mom has been hiding all the information from the school and handing it to me in private. I, in turn, have been hiding it in a drawer, underneath a whole bunch of clothing even though I know he doesn't come into my room. I want this so bad, Yuna. There are scouts coming to the blitz camps that I'm going to this summer and I _have _to make a good impression. Without a good impression they won't even _consider_ my application. I just don't want my dad to screw it up for me."

Tilting my head over to him, I asked, "How would he do that?"

"He knows everyone, everywhere if they have the slightest influence in the college level or professional level of blitz," he replied, another shake of his head. "The first camp I'm going to, two very important guys from Central Bevelle are going to be there. They're going to be scouting and hopefully handing out nice sums of money for scholarships. I won't be able to go without a scholarship and I don't want to have to go somewhere local."

"Gotcha." By 'local,' he meant University of Zanarkand; where his dad went and Tidus had scorned ever since he was a little boy. It was a deep scar in Tidus' life and it was one that I never liked to ask too many questions about because his right eye started to twitch in anger. Time to change the subject. Quickly. "When are your blitz camps this summer?"

"There's one the first week of July, then the other one is in the middle of July. So two weeks later." I turned my head down. I was still going to be here and he wasn't, which really upset me for some reason.

I couldn't let him know that though. "Oh, that'll be fun. Is Wakka going too?"

I could see him looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "No, he didn't want to go this year for some reason. I was kind of upset because he and I have gone to at least one blitz camp a year together since we were, what, five? It's all right though…" He gave me a pat on the knee, which made me blink in surprise. "Hopefully you can babysit him and keep him out of trouble, hmm?"

"Uh, yeah," I said after swallowing the lump that was rising in my chest. "I'll make sure that he's a good boy."

"And then you'll have to come to the final game of the camps. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind if you tagged along."

"Absolutely!" Now I was excited. I loved watching him play ever since we were little, and he must've been so much better now if he was co-captain of his team this year! If the men from Central Bevelle were going to be there, perhaps I would be able to see him earn a scholarship, and academic achievement always made me happy when it benefitted those close around me.

He slowed down his car and parked into the driveway, pulling up as closely as he could to the garage so I didn't have to walk far to the door. We didn't say anything to each other for a second, so I let out a small laugh. "What?"

"It's funny. I… I feel like nothing has really changed between us, Tidus." He smiled at that, so I continued. "It's been so long, so many years, we've both grown up, but seeing you again? Spending time on the beach? Just like old times."

"Including me randomly showing up at your door?"

"No, that would be a first," I shook my head at him in amusement. "I think we were a bit too young to stay out that late after bedtime!"

Without a word, he opened his car door and got out of his car, so I quickly followed suit. There was a thought in my mind that he maybe was going to come around and open my car door, but I beat him to the punch on it. But still… it was nice for him to walk me to my door. "Thank you," I said softly.

I do believe I was blushing again.

"No prob." He was so nonchalant, which really relaxed me. In fact, that whole time I was with him I was pretty relaxed and a lot of the nerves dissipated so quickly. Maybe things _hadn't _changed between us. He reached out his arms and said, "come here, you."

I giggled as I gave him a hug and we both tightly squeezed each other. "Thanks for taking me to the beach, Tidus."

"Hey, it's not the first time I'm going to be randomly showing up to your door this summer, missy." He gave me a final squeeze and broke the hug. "I'm just glad you're back."

"Me too." I blindly reached for the door knob and gave it a twist. Thankfully it was unlocked because I didn't think to grab my keys before I left the house. "I'll see you tomorrow for dinner?"

"Most definitely. You better be hungry when you show up; you know my mom." I nodded. I certainly knew what he meant by that. "Have a good night, Yuna."

He started to walk backward toward his car, so I gave him a small little wave. "You too. Night." With a small little hop, he turned around and went to his car, so I figured I needed to go inside so it didn't look like I was watching him too closely. Shutting the door behind me, I saw that my parents had finally gone to sleep, but I still had to make sure that I wasn't going to trip over any remaining boxes as I went to my room.

I couldn't wipe the silly grin off of my face, so I laughed at myself. It was a simple reason to why I was smiling; I missed my best friend and I couldn't explain how happy I was to see him again and – like I had told him – have things be just like old times.

It truly was going to be an amazing summer.


	12. XII

**December 26, 2009. I'm pretty sure this will be the last time I update this year, lol. I've been terrible with posting the past few years and I really apologize. This chapter took me a long time to write, which I'm surprised because I LOVE writing Tidus chapters. He's usually so much easier to write for than Yuna, but this time? I REALLY struggled with it. To be honest, I really don't LIKE it, but it's done and being posted. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the dinner party would be better in Yuna's POV so you can see her reactions to things. I have had a VERY stressful past few months and I just started a new job, so hopefully I will have the next chapter up before 's an exaggeration. I hope.  
**

**XII**

For some unknown reason, I couldn't just go home. I had to drive around for a little bit to clear my mind, because that's what I did when I was stressed, confused, or just needed some time to think about things. The last time I had to do that was when I made a stupid mistake at a blitz game last season, which wasn't really my fault. I was blindsided and the ball was stolen from me, so I probably shouldn't have worried about it as much as I did, but still. That mistake cost us the game and I never took a loss lightly. Instead of slashing the tires of the opposing team's bus like I wanted to, I thought it better to take the non delinquent route and take a nice drive halfway to Mt. Gagazet.

I just didn't realize _how long_ I had been driving tonight until I looked down at the clock in my car. Oops. I always liked to be on time when my mom wanted me home, and I just had a sneaking suspicion that she was awake and waiting for me to come home. As much as I didn't want to admit it to my guys, I definitely liked having heart to heart discussions with my mom every once in a while. She was the one I went to when Yuna left, when I wasn't appointed captain of the blitz team this year (even though I knew I wouldn't have been able to since they always chose seniors for some lame reason. This year though…), when I decided on the University of Bevelle for my college of choice… etc and so forth. She was a very wise and intuitive woman.

Jecht's car wasn't in the garage, which wasn't a shock to me at all. He was out celebrating with his team if they won, or drowning his sorrows with his teammates if they lost, I was sure of it. Usually I kept track of the scores of his games to mock him later on in the week, but tonight I had been a little busy. I'd have to check online when I went up to my room. I didn't feel like parking in my usual spot in the driveway, so I decided to take his parking spot in the garage and giggle to myself about how confused he would be about it when his drunken ass got home. Just to make sure that he wouldn't get me back in some way, shape, or form, I locked my car up before I walked through the door. Just as I had suspected, I quickly noticed how some lights in the house were still on.

Kicking off my shoes, I went into the kitchen and I saw my mom chewing on the end of the pencil that was in her hand. "You're still up?"

She looked up at me without a _hint _of surprise. It was as if she didn't want to look like she was waiting for me to spill my guts on everything that happened. She was an excellent actress sometimes. "I'm having a really tough time writing this test for my kids tomorrow."

"They're 4th graders, mom," I said with a chuckle and reached for a bottle of water from the fridge. "How hard can it be to make up a test for them?"

"It's a lot harder than you would think." With a sigh, she put down her pencil and, using her foot, moved one of the chairs away from the table so I could sit down. "So?"

I looked at the clock. "You couldn't even wait a full minute without asking me how things went? Wow, mom, you're losing your nonchalant touch over the years!"

Clicking her tongue at me, she said, "I'm getting more impatient in my old age."

Old age, ha. My mom wasn't 40 or have a single strand of gray hair on her head. As a matter of fact, that last part stumped me because she was raising a son like me. I wasn't the worst kid in the world, but I probably wasn't the easiest one to raise either and there were definitely a handful of times where some grays should've sprouted. I just hope I ended up with those genes and didn't have to worry about gray hairs. I dyed my hair anyway, but still…

"You're hesitating." Wow, she really _was_ impatient!

I took a long sip of water before I looked at her again. "What do you want me to say, mom?"

My mom looked as though she was watching a very climatic scene in one of her soap operas. She was one of those women who seemed like she was in the room of the scene. You know the type; laugh, cry, talk to the people, and so on. "Oh come on! You haven't seen your best friend in so long and you don't have anything to say? I could talk for _hours_ about how happy I am to see Ari again and I probably won't be able to sleep tonight because we're having dinner tomorrow, so you _have _to want to say _something!_"

I had to appease her with something now or else she would've been disappointed. She liked to hear a lot about my life, but respected my privacy thus rarely did she _pry_. During most circumstances, I wouldn't have appreciated it whatsoever. This was a little different. It was almost entertaining. "It was… nice."

Her face fell and she tilted her head to the side. Okay, so maybe I wanted to tease her a little bit and make her a little disappointed. It wouldn't be fun otherwise. "Nice is such a weak word, Tidus."

"I know." I looked down at the bottle in my hand and I started to pick off the label as I sighed. The problem wasn't that I didn't want to express what I was feeling with my mom, it was that I didn't know where to start. Yeah, I was extremely happy that she was home for the summer, but those were my own words. 'Home.' She said that maybe Zanarkand was her home. Maybe. That little word changed the entire meaning of her sentence. Even if she was just trying to be… loyal to one city or the other, it really made a difference to me. Maybe I was just partial to Zanarkand because it was the only city I had ever really known to call my home, but I wanted her to feel like her home was where her family was. Weren't we her family?

Not officially, but she and I were so close as little kids that I knew her better than my own family some times. I called her parents 'mom' and 'dad' because they were my second parents. When we weren't at my house, we were at hers. I guess you could say that both parents raised us for 10 years. Or, well… my mom helped raise Yuna. Jecht was useful as always, so I wouldn't expect Yuna to think of him as her second dad. Even though she respected him, she did fear him, I could tell.

My mom picked up the pencil again and started to look down at the papers in front of her. "It's getting pretty late and you should probably go scamper off to bed. Tomorrow's another day, Tidus."

My lips turned into a smile. As much as my mother did like to pry, she could tell when there were words that couldn't be spoken without upsetting me. It was good to have Yuna back, but since it wasn't her home, she would leave again in a few weeks. Also, tomorrow would be the day of our dinner party with Yuna's family so spending more time with Yuna would perhaps clarify things for me a little. Hopefully.

"All right, I'll see you in the morning, mom," I said with a small wave and I walked upstairs. I only got about halfway up when I realized that I forgot something downstairs. Skipping the stairs two at a time then missing the last three, I went back into the kitchen to grab the stuffed chocobo on the counter where I had tossed it on my crazy rush a few hours earlier. "Forgot somethin'," I said to my mom, shaking the stuffed animal for emphasis. She gave me a small smile and I saw that she already had all of her stuff packed up and ready to go in the morning.

She just waited up for me and used schoolwork as an excuse.

"Good night, Tidus," she said with a smile that just screamed that she knew she was caught.

Making my way back up to my room, my phone vibrated. "The hell…" I said softly as I dug through my pockets to find my phone. It was edging on 2 in the morning, who the hell could it be? Seeing the display, I almost had to laugh that it was Wakka. "Good evening, sir."

"I told you that you couldn't wait."

I stopped in my tracks before I got to my room and sighed. "Five years later and the girl is still a tattle tale." For some reason I didn't even put into consideration that Yuna would call up Wakka after I dropped her off. She called him after she and I talked the day she told me she was coming back to Zanarkand for a while, but I almost thought that she called him up to ask what the hell happened to me because I was kind of acting like an asshole. I couldn't have told her that I was in the middle of undressing her arch nemesis on my bed or else she wouldn't have wanted to see me. I didn't mean to act cold, but I was more or less _surprised. _

I heard him laugh on the other end of the phone. "I think she waited about three minutes after you left, but yeah, she called me up and said that you guys had a nice time on the beach."

"Ooh." There was a tinge of patronization in his voice and I knew that he was trying to make that sound as though we had passionate sex on the beach. "Come on, you obviously talked to her for at least a half hour so you _know_ that wasn't the case."

"I know, I just felt like giving you hell," he said with another laugh. "Besides, I know that you're a bastard, but not that big of a bastard."

"Who, me?" Was I supposed to be proud of that statement? I didn't sound ashamed. He was right for the most part, but that was a part of me that I never wanted Yuna to see. Keeping that secret from her was going to be difficult, that was for sure. As long as she didn't really have to hang around everyone that I hung around with, things would be fine. If it was just her, Wakka, Lulu and I, it would've been like old times and it would've been a wonderful summer. "Yuna's different than other girls."

I opened my door as he said, "because she's the one you're going to marry?"

I then shut the door a little harder than I should've. "What!? Marry? No!" Like a five year old, I grimaced and even shuddered a little bit. "Wakka, I've known the girl since we were in diapers. Our moms are basically sisters, which basically makes Yuna and I siblings."

"Technically, that would make you cousins."

"Whatever." I groaned and sat on my bed, tossing Carter toward my desk, where he landed beautifully next to my computer monitor. And by 'beautifully,' I mean on his head. I wasn't looking, so I considered that a nice goal shot by blitz standards. "I still consider her family, and in every part of Spira that is illegal. I think. Not sure about Bikinel." Sometimes I just didn't ask what those Al Bhed did.

"Get your panties out of a bunch, ya?" He was laughing at me, mainly because he was well aware of how my blood was boiling at the thought. My mom and Yuna's mom have always joked about how they were getting the wedding invitations embossed so we could get married when we were 18, which really disgusted Yuna and I. It might've been a little bit different now that I was older, but not by much. "You're not five anymore, she doesn't have cooties."

Laying back on my bed, I grabbed my pillow and fluffed it nicely before resting my head on it. "Yes, she does." I even had to chuckle at that. Now I was just being stubborn. "Wakka, out of everyone in the world, you should know how I could never look at Yuna in the sexual way. Or even in the romantic way. Yes, she was my best friend, but she also was the girl I used to throw mud at when I was 4. You can't throw mud in someone's face and then want to give her flowers and sweep her off into the sunset on a white horse. It just doesn't make sense."

"Her boyfriend probably wouldn't appreciate that either."

Before I could prevent it, my right eye twitched. Rubbing my face with my hand, I repeated quietly, "and her boyfriend probably wouldn't appreciate it either."

Wakka was silent for a second and then continued. "Oh, yeah, by the way; I thought you should know that I invited her to my little bash that I'm having this Friday."

I shot up on my bed and gasped. "First party of the summer! I completely forgot about that." Wakka always did throw some damn good parties. "D'you think that we'll be able to show Yuna how to loosen up a little bit or do you think she'll be the one on the couch wishing she was at home with a good book?"

"People don't change that much." He was probably right. "Just in case you forgot, I do believe Lenne said that she was going to make an appearance."

"Crap." That was basically the only word I could think of to describe what I was thinking. Lenne and Yuna never really got along when we were younger, and for good reasons too. Lenne always had a way of making fun of Yuna in any way possible. At first it started with being the smartest girl in class, then it was how Yuna dropped out of dance classes when she was six, then Lenne didn't like her clothes or how she wore ribbons in her hair, or how Lenne got the solo in the class choir and Yuna didn't… whatever the reason was, Lenne was a Grade A bitch from the time she was five and Yuna took the brunt of it. There was only one solution, "uninvite her."

"Lenne?"

Even though he couldn't see me, I nodded my head. "Mm-hmm."

"Yeah, okay, Tidus." I could hear him sigh. "I'm going to have a party and I'm not going to invite the head cheerleader. That makes a whole lot of sense."

"Dammit, I hate when you're right." The problem was that Wakka was right nearly all the time. I rubbed the back of my head. "There has to be a way to change things so that she doesn't show up. Please lie to me and tell me that something can be done here because that is one reunion that I really don't want to see."

Wakka _had _ to know that he would be picking up pieces of Yuna and Lenne's dignity off of his floor for _months _if he allowed things to go the way that I think they were going to go. "I don't know, brudda."

"Shit shit shit shit," I cursed and shut my eyes tightly. I then said something that I didn't want to, "do you think we should tell Yuna that Lenne will be there? I really think that would change Yuna's mind about wanting to go."

"You could tell her that," he began, and I knew there was a 'but' coming at the end of that. "But is that something you really want to do? By telling Yuna that Lenne is going to show up, it is going to seem like you'd rather see Lenne then your very best friend in the whole world who you haven't seen in _years _and didn't think you'd see until a freak accident in Bevelle in college."

Of course it wasn't something I wanted to do. It would've been a nice slap in the face to basically univite Yuna after Wakka gave her the formal invite. I understood why he did, I mean, it wasn't like I could've gone to a party without informing Yuna about it. She didn't have very much to do in Zanarkand and I _wanted _to keep her entertained, so by just saying, 'can't hang out tonight, sorry!' on a Friday night would've made her suspicious. "This is going to be a train wreck."

"I wish I could say something that would make this better." Again there was more to that sentence and I had a feeling that I knew _exactly _what he was going to say. "Maybe… you should try to explain to Yuna about Lenne before she finds out on her own."

Even though I knew he was going to say it, I _still _didn't want to hear it. "That is the worst idea I have ever heard you come up with."

He chuckled. "Unfortunately, Tidus, it may be the only solution to your problem. She's not stupid and she _will _find out about you and Lenne. Even if by some miracle Lenne didn't show up to the party, people will talk to you about Lenne. Everyone in school knows you two have been banging for a while so no matter how insistent you are about not calling her your girlfriend, people do talk and come to their own conclusions."

"Unfortunately," I mumbled with a groan. I hated drama.

"It might be better for you to tell her the situation rather than her finding out from others." There was a pause and he let out a sigh before continuing. "Hiding things from a friend does nothing for a friendship; especially when it's a friendship like yours. I saw what the two of you went through after she left for Bevelle and this would make it so much worse. You're on good terms right now. No need to make her departure similar to the one she had five years ago because of secrets and lies, ya?"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment as I tried to think of another option. There just wasn't one. She had to hear it from my own lips before she heard fabricated rumors or something from someone at school. "The problem is, I know who would be the one to run their mouth about this to Yuna."

No matter how vague I could've put that, I would've been disappointed in Wakka if he didn't figure it out. "Lenne can be a conniving bitch, that is a well known fact." He never disappoints. "Save yourself the trouble of having to backstroke and explain yourself to your best friend."

"Yeah." Who knows what Lenne would've said to make the situation look as terrible as possible. She might've even said that she was my girlfriend! As scary of a thought as that is, it is something that I have had to correct her of quite a few times over the past few months. I don't like to be claimed as territory, and she really could make me feel like a tree that has been pissed on by a dog. "Oooh, how I am not looking forward to having this conversation. "

"Life sucks sometimes, dude," he said. I think he even chuckled, which didn't make me too happy. I deserved the chuckle though. I made my bed and now I had to lay in it. "This will suck to do, I'm not going to lie. I can tell you that it will suck less than if Lenne starts giving Yuna graphic details of your sex life. I've heard more than enough details from her mouth and it makes _me _blush. I can't imagine what poor Yuna would do."

"Die right on the spot?" Letting out a quick exhale through my mouth, I took a quick gaze at my clock. "I need to get to bed though, I'm sure my mom is going to wake me up early to get more cleaning done before Yuna and her family come over for dinner. I'll let you know how things go."

"I'm expecting a call tomorrow night." I could practically see him wagging his finger at me. "If you don't let me know what happens, I'm sure that Yuna will."

I pushed myself off of my bed to search for a pair of pj pants. "I don't doubt that. Hopefully things will go well and it wont' make things awkward for us the rest of the summer."

"Good luck." I wished he could've said something a little more affirmative that everything _would _go well. It just meant that things were going to be a mess and she probably wouldn't be too happy. If it was anyone other than Lenne, I don't think she'd mind… but it was Lenne.

"Thanks," I replied, then shut my phone. I rarely said 'good-bye' on the phone or anything like that and I never really have. I hated good byes. I plugged my phone in and placed it on my beside table, almost considering sending a message to Yuna saying that it was nice to see her again.

Then it would sound like we were on a date or something like that and that was just awkward. Nah, everything could just wait until dinner tomorrow… _everything. _I was not looking forward to talking about Lenne and seeing Yuna's reaction. It was going to be an interesting dinner.


	13. XIII

January 9, 2010. Happy New Year and all that fun stuff! I bring you my first update of the year! This chapter just ended up being so LONG, soooo yeah the rest of the night will be in Tidus' POV. Hopefully I'll start writing it soon. It's harder to write now that I'm working again, but money is a good thing and I can't complain, lol.

**XIII**

I had woken up entirely too early that morning and I knew that I was going to regret it later in the evening when I desperately needed to sleep. I wasn't sure how much sleep I actually did get, but I knew that it wasn't enough. To be honest, I always seemed to function better with the least amount of sleep possible. During school when I worked on projects and papers, it wasn't unlike me to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning and then have to wake up for school by 6am. As long as I had an entire pot of coffee while getting ready, I would be fine for the rest of the day.

Today though… I didn't think a pot of coffee was going to be enough. I think I was under a lot of stress. Stress was probably also the same reason to why I really didn't sleep longer than 15 minutes at a time during the night too. I shouldn't have been under stress because I was on vacation and vacations were supposed to be the most relaxing time of your life, right? I didn't have to worry about school work or preparation for colleges for the most part, because that was all done until the fall. Now, all I had to do was relax back in my old hometown, spend some time on the beach, stuff like that.

However, looking at the insanity that was going on in the condo we were staying at, being stressfree definitely was not happening. If I wouldn't have woken up at sunrise, my mother would've woken me up by the way she was rushing from one room to the next. I wasn't sure if she was trying to unpack or prepare to go over to Tidus' later… and to be honest, I don't think she really knew either. She would open a box, put two things away, then rush back into her room to change her clothes. She must've changed about fifteen times in the span of three hours.

My mom also had the rule of 'never go to a neighbor's house empty handed,' so she was also trying to make some things to bring over. I knew Tidus' mom and I knew that she was going to make enough food to feed the Machine Faction and the Youth League and making more food just would've been superfluous, but that certainly wasn't going to stop my mom. I just wasn't going to get in the woman's way or else I would've been ran over and left in her dust, so I just watched in amusement. I even tried to help, which didn't really go much further than standing around holding an ingredient or two as she frantically went through boxes to find the right pots and pans.

It didn't take me long to follow in my father's footsteps and just stay out of her way. I was able to stay calm for a while… until three hours before we were going to leave. I showered, blow dried my hair… and then I had a _small_ crisis with my hair. The first time I used too much gel and hair spray, so I had to hop in the shower and rewash. The second time I tried to curl it, and I didn't like it… therefore I straightened it and I didn't like that. Then a third shower commenced.

During said third shower, I heard a knock on the door. It was my dad. "Yuna, are you _really _taking another shower? You're being worse than your mom."

"I'm almost done, I promise!" I wasn't going to guarantee that it was going to be my last shower because I wanted my hair to look right. If it didn't look right and there wasn't any way of fixing it without getting it wet, I _would've _hopped in the shower again. It was almost embarrassing to admit how much I actually cared about my hair, but the hairstyle always complimented the final look, right? I also wasn't going to admit to myself that I was taking more time to prep for this dinner than I did for my first date with Baralai.

"Save some water for the fish, hmm?"

I chuckled and shut the water off. "Without water, Sin wouldn't have any way of travel!" He didn't respond, but I thought it was rather funny. Sin traveling only by water wasn't confirmed for there had been records from the past of Sin flying and even crawling on land my father had discovered. However, in three generations of High Summoners, swimming was the only method that Sin had used to torment place to place, which opened up plenty of theories of evolvement and the like.

After drying off and blow drying my hair again, as well as making a mental note to buy a deep moisturizing conditioner later for all the damage being done to my hair, I managed to curl up the ends and be satisfied with that. For the moment. It almost looked as though my hair was going to help me fly away, so I just was going to wait a few minutes to put in hair spray and let gravity calm it down.

I didn't get much further before I heard my phone ring. My heart skipped a beat for a moment as I reached for the phone… and then I felt my heart sink almost instantly. It was Baralai. I completely had forgotten to call him last night when we got all settled in and he was probably going to call me and make sure that I was still alive.

"Yuna, we're leaving in 15 minutes~!" I heard my mom say through the door. She was practically singing to me.

That was all I needed to hear before putting my phone down again. I would call him later after the dinner party because right now I didn't have time. I still needed to pick out something to wear and put on some makeup and who knew how long that was going to take me. It wasn't a rare occurrence that I wouldn't have my phone near me (or even turned on) so I could just tell him that I left my phone at home while we were out. It was believable.

"I'll be right there!" I called out so she would know that I was only two or three outfit changes away from being ready. It was even harder to get ready knowing that I didn't know where anything was packed. I had unpacked some of the main essentials the previous night, but when Tidus came over, the unpacking was quickly forgotten. I still couldn't believe that last night I was on the Zanarkand coast with my best friend again.

My mom had always said that whenever she saw Saya again, it was as if they hadn't spent more than a day apart and they were able to pick up right where they left off. Not like they had been apart for many long periods of time with the exception of the past five years and they did talk rather often… for hours at a time. My father had to actually buy a second line for the house so he could make calls from his office without spending more money on a cell phone bill.

Tidus and I had gone months without talking and even though our first conversation was rather awkward, last night was so different. It _was _like we saw each other the day previous. It didn't change the fact that there was a big void that we needed to catch up on, but I was thinking that was going to happen today. In retrospect, my life seemed quite boring and there wasn't much to talk about that could possibly interest Tidus. I studied, read for enjoyment, watched movies and boring television shows… that was about it. I didn't like talking about myself either. I mainly wanted to hear what was going on with him and what he had been up to the past few years.

"Yuna, we're leaving!"

I looked at the clock. Three minutes hadn't even gone by since she told me that I had 15 minutes. She was getting antsy. As quickly as I could, I applied a little bit of make up and even though I wanted to change again, I just didn't have time. I opened the door and saw my mom in a nice summer dress and raised an eyebrow. "Mom, weren't you wearing capris about ten minutes ago?"

She rested her hand against the door frame to steady herself as she put on her sandals. "Excuse me, Miss I-Took-Three-Showers."

"Touche." As if on cue, we both looked at my dad. He was sitting on the couch, reading a book, in the same outfit he had been in all day. I whispered, "men have it so easy."

With a nod, she stood up straight and reached for her purse and the box that contained whatever treats she conjured up to bring. "Let's go, Braska, or else I will leave without you."

He didn't need to question how serious she was because she would've left without both of us if we didn't jump for the door right away. It was rather humorous and my father had to hold back a smile as he held up the keys and ushered us to the car.

The ride wasn't very far, but I was so anxious that it felt as though it took a million years to get to Tidus'. Knowing my mom was just as anxious made me feel better, although I did feel like I was overreacting a little bit. I just saw the boy 18 hour s ago.

As we pulled up in front of the house, we didn't even have a chance to get out of the car before Tidus' mom ran out of the house to give my mom a big hug. My mom had just enough time to practically throw the box in her hands to my dad, who juggled a little bit in order to stop it from falling.

"I still can't believe you're back in Zanarkand!" She said, rocking my mom back and forth a little bit as they hugged. That was a phrase that I basically told myself about twenty times since we arrived back in town. Tidus was right when he said that he didn't think that I would return to Zanarkand. With the exception of him and his family, we didn't have any ties here; everyone was in Bevelle. My grandparents, my uncle Cid, Rikku and Brother, Baralai… they were all in Bevelle and I really did miss them terribly.

I looked up to see Tidus on the porch with his arms crossed as he watched his mother with a smile on his face. My mom must've seen the small smile on my face, so she also looked at Tidus and let out a rather dramatic gasp. "Oh, Tidus! You look so handsome!"

He didn't look much different than the previous night to me. He _did _blush as he was smothered in a large hug by my mother, much like his greeting last night. "T-thanks, mom."

Tidus' mom laughed and said, "He should practically sparkle after taking five showers!"

"Mom!" He made a face at her and it was mostly of embarrassment. It made me smile to know that I wasn't the only one who spent a long time trying to get ready for this dinner party. They were my second family and I had to look presentable!

However, I knew what was going to come after that and my dad was the one to say it. "Yuna took three."

"Dad!" I covered my mouth and Tidus and I exchanged looks. It was a look of understanding laced with the same embarrassment that we gave our parents. Not much had changed in that aspect, and everyone laughed for a few minutes. Or, rather, our parents did as we blushed. I didn't want Tidus to _know_ I had taken three showers just as much as he didn't want me to know he took five, I was pretty sure.

Tidus' mom pointed to the house and nodded in that direction. "Well, dinner isn't quite done yet but we can all go inside and have some little hors d'oeuvres that I have prepared."

My dad looked around for a second and asked, "Jecht's not home?"

Everyone could see the way that Tidus' mom's face fell. "Oh, he, um… he had emergency practice tonight, but he should be home later!" I took a glance at Tidus and he just sighed; there was more to this story than she told.

My mom was the first one to find words and she even put an arm around her best friend. "Oh! Well, that will be lovely when he shows up. Come on, Saya, let's go inside."

I started to follow, but as soon as we all reached the porch, Tidus put his hand on my shoulder. "You all go on ahead and bond. It's so nice out, so Yuna and I will stay out here until dinner!"

O…kay, I really didn't have a say in the matter and I don't think he expected me to protest because I certainly wasn't going to. We took a seat on the swinging chair on the porch; a place we used to sit in a lot when we were younger. Our parents didn't want us to go too far when it was dark out, so in the summer we would either stay on either of our porches or in the backyard. There were even several times later in the year when it got colder that we would sit on the swing and Tidus' mom would make us hot chocolate.

"What'cha thinking?"

I snapped back into reality. "Hmm? Oh, sorry. My mind wanders more when I'm tired." It was just embarrassing when I was caught thinking about things of random. It was so easy to slip back into the past. It wasn't a bad thing… with the exception that I kept on thinking about how my life would be if I had stayed in Zanarkand and didn't move to Bevelle. Such thinking wouldn't have been harmful if I had continued to think that my life was better since I had moved. But, that… wasn't a thought that had crossed my mind as often as it should've.

"Having a hard time sleeping away from home?"

I looked down in my lap and smiled. "Yeah, you know me too well. " He was the same way and never could sleep away on vacation. The only reason he slept while he was at blitz camp was because the coaches would work them all half to death, so sleeping was closely related to 'passing out' at the end of the night.

"Mmhmm."

Awkward silence.

He was deeper in thought than I was, so I tilted my head up to look over at him. "What are _you_ thinking?"

Shaking his head, he shrugged. "Dunno."

"You're such a terrible liar." I chuckled at him and started to gently swing the seat by rocking the balls of my feet against the wooden porch. "You can't lie to someone who knows your lying antics."

"Yeah yeah yeah," he drawled, giving me a soft push from his shoulder to mine. "So, Wakka told you about his little shindig that he's having on Friday, hmm?"

I nodded. "Yep. Sounds like a … great time." Truth be told, I wasn't looking that forward to it. The second that Wakka said that there might be a 'little drinking going on,' I knew that he meant there would be people there getting absolutely obliterated and my interest faded. I wasn't a party person. At all. I would rather spend my Friday nights watching something on the Discovery channel or History channel, or snuggling up next to the fireplace with a good book.

It wasn't even that, it was the fact that it upset me that that was how Wakka and Tidus wanted to spend a Friday night. I didn't want to see either of them drunk; they were practically my brothers. More so Tidus than Wakka. After the discovery that I found in Tidus' drawers the day previous, I also didn't want to know what _else _went on at parties like that. I was naïve and I planned to keep it that way for a little while. Maybe I would open up a little bit once I went to college, but not in any way that would harm my GPA or reputation.

"Heh, don't sound too enthused." He sounded hurt.

"No, I'm looking forward to it, really! It will be nice to see everyone again." That was all I could say without telling him that I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go yet. I could be creative when I wanted to be, so I was pretty sure I would be able to come up with a good enough excuse to get out of it. Maybe I could say I was going to a banquet with my parents or something.

He was silent for a moment and then looked at me with a guilty look. It was rather similar to the one he gave me when his mother exposed the fact that he took five showers. "Lenne is going to be there."

That cinched it. I wasn't going to go. Instead of telling him flat out, I said, "oh."

I didn't dislike many people… but she was probably the only person I could honestly say that I did dislike. There was nothing about her that I could tolerate, and I had her to blame for that. No matter what I did, she had to make fun of me for it or call out how she was able to do it better. The main thing about her that bothered me the most is that she _copied _off of me! She completely bashed the idea of a school musical until I wanted to try out. Then she had a change of heart and _had _to get the lead… and when she did, she didn't let me forget about it. One year, I had my hair cut really short and even though I hated it, she had to hate it more. She had to constantly call me a boy, point and laugh whenever I walked into the classroom.

…Less than a week later, her hair was cut just as short and it turned into the new phase. Every girl had to have the 'Lenne haircut.' I was absolutely furious that she would be such a hypocrite.

Even when she wasn't being a hypocrite, she was cruel for no reason whatsoever. The only common conclusion I could come to of why I was her target every day for a new reason was that I was close to Tidus and she wasn't. She had made it known at a very early age that she liked Tidus and he made it known that he wanted nothing to do with her. Since I was the closest female to Tidus and I suppose I was a threat at the age of five years old, she had to be mean to me. Jealousy was a cruel emotion.

"Just thought you should know that…" He trailed off and it was clear that wasn't the end of his sentence.

"Know what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. There was nothing about his tone of voice that was going to make me happy.

"Yuna, I…"

Just like when he lied, he was terrible at stalling. "What is it?" I tried to make a joke out of it, so I laughed as I added, "Come on, it can't be _that _bad. Just spit it out."

"Right," he said, readjusting his position in the seat so he was facing me more directly. "I just don't want you to take this the wrong way."

I used my index finger to draw a cross on my chest. "Cross my heart."

"Lenne and I…" My face fell instantly. Nothing good was going to come out this, he just confirmed it. "Okay, so, Lenne and I have been kinda sorta seeing each other the past few months. Sorta kinda but not really."

I knew he was going to say it and I really wished I could've been wrong. If there was anything in the world I didn't want to hear… that was it. Could I show my disappointment in him? Of course not. I was his best friend and I was supposed to be supportive of him no matter what his decisions were. No matter how _stupid _they were. I should've known she would've pounced on her prey again after I left. "Ah. I see."

Such a weak response and I scolded myself silently for it.

"Just, um, thought you should know before the party on Friday."

More silence.

Until something spouted out of my mouth before I could stop it. "Why her?"

He remained calm and I kind of wanted to smack him for it. "She's the head cheerleader, I'm going to be captain of the Blitz team next year. It kind of fits."

My weak response was _nothing _ in comparison to his weak excuse. I couldn't even look at him because I knew I couldn't show the disgust that was written all over my face. There was no reason for me to look disgusted because it wasn't like he was my boyfriend or anything. I just despised everything about that girl. I'm sure that was why he wanted to tell me now before I heard it through the grapevine. Less collateral damage that way. Even though it was none of my business, I still asked, "So, she's your girlfriend?"

He instantly raised his hands and waved them back and forth. "No, no, no, no! She's most definitely not my girlfriend and, no matter what she thinks, she never _will_ be my girlfriend. She's beautiful, but she is way too bitchy and completely wrong for me."

I scrunched up my nose and blinked a few times. "That makes absolutely no sense. How could you date someone without them ever wanting to be your…" It clicked. Oh Yevon did it click in my brain and there were suddenly pictures in my head that would never go away.

But… again… it was his life. Not mine. When we were younger I could've scolded him for making wrong decisions, but not now. There were clearly so many aspects in his life that I wasn't a part of and obviously didn't have a say.

He looked like a kicked puppy. This wasn't something he wanted to tell me, so I had to definitely make the situation better. "Like my mom always says, you have to kiss a few toads before it turns into a prince! Or, a princess in your case."

"I'm… not looking for anyone, really." Now he just seemed embarrassed. "I plan on moving to Bevelle in a little less than a year, Yuna. That's not something I want to tell a future girlfriend. 'Oh, this is great now, but I'm leaving soon! Kay, bye!' See what I mean? I'm sure your boyfriend is going somewhere in Bevelle, right?"

I lowered my head. "Baralai's going to Luca in September. I've known his plans for quite some time and that didn't stop me from dating him." The pit in my stomach grew. I hated thinking about how far away he was going to be, and hated how I rarely thought about it. It was so close from now and hardly even thought about it.

Something was wrong with that.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"No, it's fine." I said with a smile. It was a fake smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I want him to go to Luca. It's where his dad went and he has a very strong lineage to uphold and ancestors to honor by being the next Praetor. He has big shoes to fill and it won't be an easy road to fit into them."

He nodded his head and then let out a small chuckle. "Match made in Yevon for you two, hmm? Son of the Praetor, daughter of the High Summoner?"

It seemed like it was easier for him to talk about a topic like this with me than it was for me to talk about it with him. This was… _awkward. _There was more to me than 'Yuna and Baralai' just like I wanted there to be more of Tidus than 'Tidus and Lenne.' She apparently wasn't a huge part of his life if she wasn't his girlfriend, right? However, the way he _said it. _"Yeah, everyone else seems to think so too."

"Hmm?" He scratched the back of his neck and quirked an eyebrow at me. "Do _you_ think so?"

"Um, well…" I couldn't just tell him that he asked me the scariest question in the world. Again, I had to laugh this one off. "I'm 16 years old, Tidus. I think I'm a little too young to think of things like my soulmate and marriage! If he is, he is, but I want to get through college before I start to get too serious!"

As if by a miracle of Yevon, the front door opened and Tidus' mom stuck her head out. "Time for dinner, kiddos! I hope you're really hungry!" She kept the door propped open and motioned for us to come inside. "I really hope I didn't interrupt anything!"

"No, no worries, mom," I said, standing up and straightening out my shirt. "We were just catching up."

"Yep!" Tidus gave me a pat on the head and added, "we can finish our topic after dinner!"

I _truly _hoped he was kidding.


	14. XIV

January 24, 2010. Let me try to write this intro again since Firefox decided to die on me. Again. Anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is so long. I tried ending it about six times but I kept on adding things because there were things I wanted in Tidus' POV and not Yuna's... and if I waited until his turn again, they would just seem out of place. Oh well. I will probably write more when I get Microsoft Office back on my computer (HATE HATE HATE WORD PAD OMG. I miss my red squigglies when a word is misspelled! It makes writing difficult after working a 10 hour day and 1 am approaching... lol) because I had to do a COMPLETE restore on my main HD since it failed on me. Awesome. Anyway, that should be soon. I can't believe I'm already on chapter 14... maybe things will grow a little more interesting soon? I hope you can endure this long chapter... the next one won't be as long, I hope!

**XIV**

My initial thought about the conversation about Lenne and I was, 'Well, that went well. Yuna could've taken the news about Lenne and I pretty hard and she really didn't. She didn't even give me a single glare! Okay, so she didn't even really make eye contact with me, but still I didn't _see_ any glares!' That, to me, seemed like a successful conversation with a bonus because I didn't get slapped across the face.

The more I thought about it, I realized that maybe she was just absorbing all the information and trying _not _to give me a black eye for my decisions that I have made. She would be the only person in Spira who would be allowed to do that and I would accept it, even though I know she never would smack me. It really was a lot to grasp onto due to the fact that she really did hate Lenne and she probably saw it as me lowering my standards to 'date' someone like that. But again, we weren't dating. She wasn't my girlfriend and never would be.

Thinking about it even _more, _I came to the conclusion that while she wasn't mad, she was… disappointed. Knowing that I bluntly told Yuna that Lenne would never be my girlfriend just made me seem like a sex-craved adolescent who only cared about image by sleeping with the head cheerleader. No wonder I disappointed her. Even when _I _dissected the situation like that, I disappointed myself. Disappointment was _worse_ than her being angry or upset. Much worse. I hated disappointing people... especially when they were people so close to me.

So yeah, after thirty seconds of thinking about it, I saw that the conversation ultimately sucked and I felt like shit. The only upside that I could possibly think of was that she knew now and I didn't have to hide anything from her anymore. Perhaps the news would just take a little time for her to get used to and then she'd completely disregard it after a while, but until then? I had to live with the fact that she'd been in town for a little over a day and I already ultimately disappointed her.

Perhaps I could get away with ignoring the Lenne thing for now until things smoothed over. I didn't have any plans to see the girl unless we, unfortunately, ran into each other on the beach or something, and I was hoping that Yuna would see that I was avoiding Lenne.

Until Wakka's party that is.

Yuna didn't seem like she wanted to go to the party, but little did she know that she didn't have a choice. I wanted her there, so she was going to go. In her best interest, of course. We did have a lot of mutual friends when she lived in Zanarkand and this would be an excellent chance for her to see them all at the same time without having to visit them all one by one. It just made sense! I had a little less than a week to convince her that the party was going to be a lot of fun and wouldn't be the same if she wasn't there.

I just had to think of a way to say that without sounding desperate or to make her think that she would be a shield from Lenne. She wouldn't be a shield. She would be a Lenne Magnet. If Lenne saw me walk in the room with Yuna, she would waltz right over to us and make an instant smart ass remark that would undoubtedly ruin Yuna's night. That reunion was just going to be a messy one, I couldn't ignore that fact. I would just deal with it at a later time because I had six days before it would happen.

In the meantime, dinner was a nice intermission between the conversation we were having. I don't think she wanted to continue it even though I really did. Not about the Lenne part, no no, that was over and done with. If I went without hearing her name for the rest of the night I would be more than happy. I wanted to know more about her boyfriend. I kind of felt like a horrible person, but I wanted to pry a little bit deeper. Something just seemed off with Yuna once the topic of her boyfriend came up, and I almost wanted to ask her if the whole Praetor's son and High Summoner's daughter thing was nothing more than a politician's ploy or an 'arranged pairing.' Maybe they wouldn't get married, but it sure seemed like that question had been thrown around about the two of them before.

She did have a point though; she was 16 years old and marriage was the furthest thing from her mind. A lot of girls would say the same thing, but Yuna's mind was different. She was probably so focused on studying and getting into Lady Yunalesca University that she didn't have any brain power left to process a relationship. For some reason, I couldn't even formulate a picture of the two of them having a romantic evening together. It was so much easier to see them at a table, studying for different subjects with soft, classical music playing in the background.

I had to stop myself from giggling at the thought, so I shoved a forkful of chicken parmesan into my mouth. It was enough to distract me a little because my mom was a damn good cook and I loved it when she made huge meals. It was rather few and far between nowadays since Jecht constantly blew my mom and I off for dinner. Like tonight for example; right as my mom reminded him _again _that Yuna's family was coming over, he started to stutter and conjured up some excuse that he had to go to practice. My father was a real winner, all right.

However, it made me think that it saved Yuna's dad some torment. It always worked out that the women talked between themselves, so the men had to come up with conversation. I could only imagine that drove Yuna's dad up a damn wall. He's so smart and had a _real _career whereas my dad was some washed up college blitz star who never made it to the pros because he never tried hard enough. Being a 'semi-pro' was good enough for him, but I knew that it would _never_ be good enough for me.

I guess you could look at it as seeing into the future, because I didn't want my wife to have to work. I wanted my kids to be raised at home without being in daycare. I know how much my mom hated to work and she never had to say anything about it. She always said she was destined to be a teacher, but I saw how envious she was of Yuna's mom. Yuna's mom was able to watch me while my mom was at work, which was good for everyone. Still, I know that my mom felt like she missed out a lot on my childhood and I felt bad for the woman. That's why I wanted to go pro and make enough money so my wife could be a stay at home mom.

My mom and Yuna's mom chatted throughout dinner, but Yuna, her dad, and I were all rather quiet. I think her dad was just enjoying the food, but Yuna was definitely thinking and I wanted to know what it was that she was thinking. I was pretty good at reading the minds of others... except hers was like a steel fortress that I couldn't sneak into.

And it was annoying at times like this.

Completely full and satisfied after two helpings of spaghetti, garlic bread, and chicken, I pushed my plate away from the edge of the table and leaned back into my seat.

"Tidus, there's more if you're still hungry," my mom said, using her fork to point toward the plate in the center.

"Nooo thanks, mom." If I ate another bite, I was going to burst. Eating that much wasn't necessarily unusual, I could eat my mom out of house and home if I really put my heart into it, but I truly was full. I looked over at Yuna and she really didn't eat much. She was more or less pushing things around with her fork and making it look like she ate more than she did. I gave her a nudge, "those who don't finish their meal don't get dessert."

She put down her fork and smiled at me. "Everything is wonderful, but I'm getting full already!"

"Must've been the three pieces of garlic bread before we sat down," her dad said with a smirk. Oh, how I missed her father.

She blushed and took the napkin off of her lap. "Glad we were counting, dad."

Yuna's mom shot her husband a glare and I couldn't help but snicker a little bit. I almost added how Yuna stole a few cookies before dinner as well, but I did want to see my best friend more over the summer and not piss her off. It would've been all in fun, of course. I just didn't know how much Yuna's sense of humor had changed while having her head filled with all the 'wonders of Yevon' and whatnot that they preach in Bevelle and I was still trying to be nice because I dropped the Lenne bomb on her.

I was growing a little antsy sitting at the table with all the adults, so I stood up, grabbed my plate and Yuna's and brought them over to the sink. If she said she was full, I was going to assume that she was finished so we could go upstairs and finish our little chat. She looked pleasantly surprised that I grabbed her plate and I wasn't going to tell her that I was lazy and rarely did any of the dishes around the house. In fact, my mother was wearing the same pleasantly surprised look on her face and Yuna just didn't notice it.

"Okay, Yuna and I will be upstairs! Call us when you bring out the cookie and chocolate silk pie." That pie was beyond the most amazing creation my mother had ever conjured up and I wish she made it every day. I would probably be about 3,000 pounds and never be able to play blitz ever again… and wouldn't complain because it would be worth it. That pie is _that _good.

"…Kay…" She sounded confused, but still followed me upstairs anyway. Halfway to my room, she whispered, "Were our parents boring you that much?"

I shook my head. "Nah. Not really. I just know that it will take them about an hour or two to clear the table, make a pot of coffee and bring out the awesome pie. Well, the pie and the other twelve desserts my mom made over the past few days." I opened the door for her and allowed her in first. "You should come to town more often."

"So you can see me or so your mom can go on a baking spree?" She chuckled, but I knew that she wasn't sure what I was going to answer.

"Both, of course." It wasn't a lie. It was nice to see her and nice that my mom decided to bake like that. She didn't do it very often because my dad would throw a fit that she was trying to get him fat so he would quit blitz. My father was an idiot all the time, but there were some times where he just dumbfounded me with his stupidity. I sat down on my bed and… did she look at my bed in fear? Before I had a chance to question, she sat in my computer chair and turned it toward my bed. Odd.

"What?" She asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

"My… bed won't bite you, you know," I replied slowly, scooting back so my back was against my headboard. "It never has before."

"I'm quite comfortable here."

"Okay…" I raised an eyebrow at her and grabbed my blitzball pillow to hold onto. It was comfy and I loved that damn thing. I should've told her that my mom washed my sheets and bedspread earlier in the day, yet it just seemed kind of irrelevant. We used to lay in the same bed and have sleepovers all the time when we were younger. I suppose things were just different now that we were out of one-piece pjs. Hell, there were times when I slept naked and who knows, maybe she did too.

"What are you thinking?"

Whoa, my mind wandered much further than it needed to and her tone of voice seemed quite leery on what my answer was going to be. "Oooh, nothing at all." I definitely couldn't elaborate on what my thought was although I did kinda want to know the answer. Did she? Hmm.

Was I going to flat out ask her? Hell no. I would've gotten slapped. Maybe. At least I would've _deserved _a slap.

"I like how you redid your room."

She was clearly trying to change the subject but I humored her and looked around. "Yeah, I suppose it is a little different than it was five years ago." Now I had a tv, a computer, the desk the computer was on, a couple video game systems hooked up… the works. Not to mention the 12 blitz trophies and the other dozen or so ribbons that I've managed to acquire over the past few years. I loved my collection.

Looking around the monitor of the computer, she picked up Carter by one of its wings and gave it a little shake. "At least some things are still here."

"What do you mean 'still here,' you little thief?" I tossed my blitz pillow at her and she deflected it with her arm. "Nice block, goalie Yuna."

Giggling, she made the chocobo stand up on the top of the headrest on the chair. "I simply borrowed him, remember? Now he's back where he belongs and it makes your room… look like it did when I left."

"Really?" I propped my elbows on my knees. "I have completely redone my room in the past five years and a tiny, raggy looking chocobo is all it takes?"

With a shrug, she continued, "well, yeah. It almost voids out how everything _is _different. Who actually had a computer in their room five years ago? And you certainly didn't have all those blitzball trophies lined up on your wall before I moved. You've grown up and your room transformed with you. It's nice to see things that I still remember."

Unable to hold myself back, I asked, "so if I were to go into your room, you're saying that your limited edition Yevon Babies collectibles are on a shelf next to your bed?" She blushed. "Your room would feel like home to me too then."

"Those are going to be worth a lot of money someday, Tidus. I can't just get rid of them."

I chuckled at her. I wouldn't want her to get rid of those things. They were so popular when we were seven and eight, so my mom, Yuna's mom and I would each buy one for her birthday and Yevonistmas. Or, my mom would buy two and say one was from me. My mom and her mom had to coordinate on the phone to make sure that we wouldn't get her the same one, then we would all stand outside at six in the morning before the stores opened to see if they had them in stock. That last part I would rather forget, but it was all part of the experience. I would be upset if she threw them in a box and hid them somewhere.

"Good times," I said, watching her get a little flustered because she was embarrassed. I wasn't trying to embarrass her at all. I was just adding onto her point, really.

Looking out the window toward her old house, she mused, "I wonder if that shelf is still there…"

"I'm sure it is," I replied, thinking about all the times that damn shelf fell and her father had to fix it. She had so many collectibles of Aeons and Summoners and other religious beings as babies (I do believe Zaon had a bottle and Yunalesca had a blankie) that it started to grow too heavy and collapsed a few times. At first the shelf was right above her headboard, but when it nearly fell on her head one time, her dad moved it to the right so Yuna could avoid head injury. "Your dad eventually used molly anchors to keep that thing from falling. There would be major damage to the wall if they were ever taken out."

Without turning her head away, she let out a sigh. "How are your neighbors?"

I shrugged. "After you moved, the neighbors were pretty quiet and kept to themselves. It made the fact that you were halfway across Spira even harder on my mom because that would've been a long drive to borrow an egg or a cup of sugar. I don't know, they lived there for four years and they never even waved if I passed their house or if they were outside sitting on the porch and I had to get the mail or something." My face fell as I thought about it. "It was just sad."

Moving Carter to her lap, she rested her chin on the top of the headrest of the chair and finally looked at me again. "My mom never really made any effort to get to know our neighbors either."

"We're irreplaceable, duh." She and I exchanged smiles. I knew it was a two way street; my mom said it over and over again after they moved that we would never have neighbors like them ever again. My mom also graded on a curve because she and Yuna's mom were best friends _before _they moved next door. "I think my mom likes it better now that the house is empty."

She perked up. "Huh? Empty? Why?"

"Wow, you really _weren't _paying any attention during dinner, were you? Our parents talked about it for a good ten minutes and I thought your mom was going to cry." She still looked confused. "The house went into foreclosure about six months ago. My mom said it was a good thing because the only people who deserved to live in that house was your family and practically protested so there wouldn't be a For Sale sign in your front yard again. The other couple who lived in there were older and never really kept up with the house." That was an understatement and I'm surprised that Yuna didn't notice it the second she saw the house.

Getting up, she walked over the window and pried the blinds apart to get a closer look. It was too dark, so she probably couldn't see much of anything. "Yeah, my dad did say something about how the house needed a new roof, but I didn't even put into consideration that it was in foreclosure. Wow…"

It didn't surprise me at all that her father noticed that. He always had that house in beautiful condition and did it all himself. He repainted the siding, did the yard work, and even spent a summer putting down the paving stones for the patio. The only thing he didn't do himself was reroof the house because he claimed he didn't have the right tools.

Again, let me mention how envious I was to have a father like hers.

"Of course you know this means you just have to move back here." I was joking. Sort of. My mom had been saying it ever since the other couple moved out of the house and I always had to hold back from nodding like an idiot in agreement.

She shut the blinds and conveniently dodged the question. "I've been gone for five years and this is the first time we've ever talked about our neighbors, did you notice that?" I gave her a half smile and a shrug-like nod. "You don't think..."

She trailed off, but I wasn't even going to give her the benefit of finishing that statement if she wanted to. "A lot of things changed in five years, but no." It was a firm answer and she turned her head to look at me, yet her eyes didn't make contact. She was going to say that we just got so out of touch with each other that we never talked about our neighbors and I never brought up the fact that the house was in foreclosure. She probably thought I didn't bring it up because I wasn't going to follow it up with, 'Now you need to move back here!' with some kind of a smiley face or other emoticon via email. It was painful to talk about, that's all. I think my answer sounded so definitive because it was true and I wanted to believe it.

Now I could tell her that she had to move back into her old house because she was standing 10 feet in front of me and we were talking just like old times. Via phone or email... it was too impersonal. Inflection is gone, tone completely overlooked and meant that conversations or even single sentences were misinterpreted. Yes, that was what I tried to convince myself. I was just having a hell of a time believing it.

"I hope you're right," she replied softly, no sign of a smile on her face at all.

I tapped my fingers on my leg nervously. I really didn't know what the hell to say next that wouldn't upset either of us any further. Her moving away was always a sore subject so I rarely talked about it or I tried to avoid it like the plague whenever it was brought up. Wakka used to try to talk to me about it to work with me and try to make it easier... or he was trying to make sure that my friendship with Yuna wasn't going to disappear because I sure was making it go down that path. It grew harder to talk to her. I really did feel abandoned in a way. She and I had plans to be friends forever but when she moved, I started to wonder if that was only possible when I saw her every day. Being a 10 year old boy, I really didn't want to work for a friendship; I just wanted it there in front of me.

Yuna really did become out of sight out of mind and it never hurt me until this very moment. If I didn't know any better, I'm sure she was thinking the same exact thing. It was completely mutual and we both started to write shorter emails instead of the multi-paragraph novels of every moment of every day and started to send short text messages instead of talking on the phone for hours. I bowed my head.

It was truly depressing to realize that once she moved, we simply didn't have anything in common anymore. I had blitz, she had her studies. At first it wasn't hard to talk about blitz and she certainly could gush about what she was learning about in school... but then I didn't know anyone she was meeting and that was _hard_. Then things got worse when she met her boyfriend. Every time she mentioned his name, I hated it. Not like I had romantic feelings for the girl or anything, but I always thought I would be the only man in her life.

But I wasn't jealous. No. Definitely not.

Playing with the material on my shorts, I looked over at her. "I'm sorry, you know. For..."

Without even asking what I was apologizing for, she nodded. "I am too."

I watched three minutes tick by on the clock on my wall as I tried to think of the right thing to say. Or... anything to say to break the curse of silence. At least she didn't look like she was going to cry, but she was pretty upset. I didn't blame her. I felt the same way.

I was pleasantly surprised when she was the first one to say something. "Apparently things weren't that bad if we're both here right now."

Chuckling, I added, "and I suppose I wouldn't have driven over to your house in the middle of the night last night if I didn't want to see you."

At least a smile appeared on her face like she believed me. She should've believed me... it was the truth. "It wasn't the middle of the night. It was 10 o'clock or so."

Folding my hands behind my head, I rested against the headboard. "Yeah, true. If it _was _the middle of the night, your dad would've called the cops on me or something. I mean, someone sneaking up to your door the first night you were in town at three in the morning? Who else would it be besides a burglar?"

She shrugged. "That's a very good point."

_Again _there was silence.

And again she was the one to break it.

"We have a few weeks to get things right back on track." She finished her sentence with a very confident nod of her head. I smiled at her and returned the nod. "We're mature enough to handle this."

It almost sounded as though we were trying to be friends after a breakup, but I didn't want to laugh at her. She had a point. We knew what we had done wrong and we would be sure not to make the same mistake again. All we really needed to do was secure our friendship for now until I moved to Bevelle next year for college.

That reminded me. "Oh hey, I have a favor to ask of you."

She perked up and said, "hmm?"

This was important, so I sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. "I was wondering if you could help me write a few short papers for college applications. Or at least the one at University of Bevelle. I suck when it comes to grammar and being wordy and all that fun stuff that college administrators get all giddy over, and you're a genius at it."

Blushing, she cleared her throat. "I'm not a... _genius._"

"Ah, you're being modest." I put my hands together and bowed my head slightly to be funny and plead. "Please help me write it? Or proof read it and mark it up with fifteen billion red marks after my terrible attempt at it?"

Looking up between the mop of hair that seemed to fall in my face, I could see her wave her hand dismissively. "Oh stop. Of course I'll help you."

I didn't think she would say no, but that made me so happy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know if you help me, there's not a chance that Bevelle would say no. To my paper at least. I can do my best on the blitz stuff during my camps."

"I'll do what I can." Then she said something that made my whole day, "I want you to get into the University of Bevelle... then I'll be able to see you all the time."

I was about to make some kind of a smart ass remark about how she'd be able to help me write all my papers _then _too, yet I didn't think it would be the right thing to say when she was being sincere. It would seem like I didn't care about seeing her all the time, which would've been a terrible lie.

However, before I was able to say anything else, her phone rang... and she looked rather happy to receive that phone call when she pulled the phone out of her pocket. Great. It was her boyfriend. So much for our sentimental conversation we were having.


	15. XV

February 11, 2010. Happy early Valentine's Day since I'm sure I won't update again before then... lol. That's the joy of working in a restaurant; Valentine's weekend is one of the busiest of the year. So I'll be making a lot of money (please keep your fingers crossed on that one and always tip your server 20 percent LOL) but I will have zero time to do anything BUT work. Oh well, what can ya do. I'm just happy I finished this chapter and posted it sooner rather than later. I tend to sit on chapters for a while. Oopsies. Anyway, happy reading!!!

**VI**

I almost felt like I could finally relax again when Tidus and I came to a mutual understanding that our friendship was going to be okay. To be completely honest, I didn't think that anything was a problem when we saw each other the previous night on the beach. The fact that he _did _come on over unannounced just to see me really made me want to believe that nothing had changed and we were just going to pick up where we left off.

However...

The last few months of living in Zanarkand did a lot of damage to us when I looked back and reflected on it. We were both young, immature, and completely unable to handle the fact that I was going to be so far away and how it was possible that we might not have seen each other even. So we did what every ten year old would do in that situation; we lashed out at each other. Tidus said a lot of really cruel things (or, as cruel as a ten year old could say) and he made me run home crying a lot. It didn't take long for me to _want_ to move just so I could get away from him and it took several months after I arrived in Bevelle before we started talking again. We still held grudges with each other for a while, but now? We were older and much more mature. It didn't kill our friendship and it would prove to make our friendship stronger. It truly did make me happy.

Until my phone rang.

I thought my heart was going to plummet down into my stomach as I reached into my pocket to grab it and see who it was. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tidus wearing a rather sour expression on his face and I almost didn't answer it.

When I saw who it was, my tune completely changed and I got excited.

"Good evening, sir," I said into the phone as my way of answering.

"Both you and Tidus refer to me as 'sir,' which I find rather humorous… but at the same time you make me feel old," Wakka said with a small laugh, making me smile and blush a little. "Speaking of, you still over Tidus'?"

I chuckled and looked over at Tidus, who still didn't look happy. Maybe I _shouldn't_ have answered the phone. I mean, I did find it rude when people talked on the phone in the company of others, but it was Wakka. Tidus wouldn't mind. "Of course I'm still over Tidus'. There hasn't been a reason for me to leave or anything."

"Whew, that's a relief!"

"Ha, yeah, I suppose." It took me about two seconds to figure out that Wakka had coaxed Tidus into telling me about the whole Lenne situation and that was why he called me. Not that I didn't appreciate the call or anything, he probably wanted to see how I reacted over the whole thing, but did they expect me to freak out? Throw a fit? Storm out of the house in a fit of rage?

No. I've never been one to make a scene, so there was no reason for them to even think of such absurd conclusions. I was a big girl and I could handle just about everything. Except improper grammar. Besides, it was Tidus' life and he could live it however he chooses. I really didn't agree with the fact that he just wanted to date her for the 'benefits,' but again. His life. I didn't have the right to question his motives. If, in ten years, he looked back on it and said to himself, 'Jeez, I certainly did something stupid!' That would be satisfying for me.

"Does Tidus have any big plans for you two tonight?"

Odd. I looked over at Tidus – who still had a look of 'let's go, Yuna. Off the phone, please,' written all over his face, so I figured I needed to hurry things along – then said, "I honestly don't know. Let me ask him."

That perked him up. "Wha-? Ask me what?"

Moving the phone away from my ear so I didn't make Wakka go deaf, I asked, "Wakka wants to know what we have planned tonight."

I'm not sure if his expression was more of relief, surprise, or both. "Wa-Wakka? Oh, it's Wakka?"

"Yes, it's Wakka." Tilting my head to the side innocently, and even though I knew the answer, I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Who did you think it was?"

Wakka started laughing on the other end of the phone. "He thought I was your boyfriend, of course!"

I couldn't acknowledge that he said that or else Tidus would've known I had the same thought.

Tidus nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Let me talk to him for a sec."

Not willing to argue with him, I handed him the phone.

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then looked at me, changed his mind, and closed it. I almost asked him if he wanted me to leave the room so he could talk to Wakka in private, but then I thought it would be more fun if he could have this conversation about me without me knowing it was about me.

"Hey, what's up?"

I had to smile and let out a sigh because, like Tidus, I was quite relieved that it was Wakka. Funny how Tidus changed his whole tune when he realized that it wasn't my boyfriend… yet at the same time, I wasn't too surprised. He was a touch too nosy about Baralai for my taste and I didn't want to open up much about him. It was awkward. Of course, I had to make a mental note to call Baralai tonight no matter what time it was that I got home. Poor guy didn't even know if I made it across Spira in one piece, which made me feel guilty.

"I suppose we could come out for a bit as long as Yuna doesn't mind."

That grasped my attention again and put Carter in my lap. I didn't even realize that I was absentmindedly playing with him as if he were a stress ball while I was thinking about Baralai. "Huh? What? Where?"

He chuckled and said, "Wakka wants to know if we want to go up to Shinra's for a while. It's a restaurant that has pool and darts and stuff. Could get us out of the house for a while an-" He put the phone back to his ear. "What was that? Oh. Yes." He looked back at me and added, "and Wakka would love to see you."

"Sure! Sounds like fun!" I had been rather anxious to see Wakka, and a major perk was that it would get me out of Tidus' room. I couldn't get the image of Lenne sitting on his bed like a porn star out of my head… I shuddered. At least in my imagination, she was fully clothed. Who knows how long it has been since his mom washed his sheets since the last time Lenne _wasn't _clothed.

I felt nauseous all of a sudden.

"All righty, we'll meet you there in like 20 minutes then, okay?" He was quiet as Wakka spoke, just nodding a few times as if Wakka could see him. "Okay, see you then. Bye!"

He handed me my phone after he hung up. "It's a good thing I didn't want to say good bye…" I wasn't offended at all, but I liked messing with him. Tidus opened his mouth like he was going to say anything, but I gave him a wave with my hand. "Don't worry about it, I'm just kidding! So where are we going?"

Tidus stood up and I followed his lead, but I didn't go to his mirror and fix my hair like he did. Five showers and having to check a mirror every time he passed one? I was starting to believe he was more vain than most females. "Shinra's. It started off as a pizza restaurant, but the bar area is rather big and has a pool table and stuff, and they allow high school kids in as long as it's before 10. They built it about a year and a half ago across the street from A-East High. Really smart, when you think about it."

"Mm hmm." I nodded and looked down to my shirt to make sure that I didn't have any spaghetti sauce or chocolate on me from dinner or from the cookies I had beforehand. All I needed for my grand entrance of seeing Wakka again after all these years was looking like a complete slob.

"Oh damn." I saw that Tidus was doing the same kind of inspecting and noticed a few tiny spots of sauce on his chest. His shirt was a baby blue color, so even though the specks were tiny, they were still noticeable.

Without missing a beat, he took off his shirt and threw it across the room to where his laundry basket was sitting… as if I wasn't even there. If I wasn't so surprised that he did that, I would've asked him if he wanted me to leave the room while he changed, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. I didn't have to touch my face to know that it was beat red.

I also found myself staring.

He went to his dresser and picked out another shirt. Turning around, he held it in one hand and said, "maybe if I would've eaten like you did, I wouldn't have been wearing my dinner."

"What's that mean?" I asked, trying to turn my eyes away from his arms. He had… nice arms.

Thankfully, he put the shirt on and I was able to release the breath that I didn't realize I was holding in. How embarrassing. "You more or less played with your dinner than ate it. I wasn't going to comment on it, but I definitely blame the cookies that you ate while dinner was being brought to the table."

I gave him a gentle slap on his arm. Yep, his arms were as built as they looked. "Oh stop. You know I can't resist your mom's cookies." How could I tell Tidus that talking about Lenne nearly made me lose my appetite? Also, I wasn't able to tell him that talking about Baralai basically had the same effect on me. I just had to blame it on the fact that I should've called Baralai last night and I ignored his call today. I felt like a horrible girlfriend.

He opened the door and motioned for me to go out first. "You don't think your parents will mind if we go out for a little bit, do you?"

I shrugged. "It's not like I was transferred to a Temple of Yevon when we moved to Bevelle, Tidus. I'm sure they'll be fine as long as I don't come home at three in the morning."

"They close at two, no worries."

I didn't want to stay out that late, but I didn't want to be a party pooper and say that to him now. I had a hard enough time sleeping in that tiny bed in the condo and I never could sleep in no matter how hard I tried, so I needed to make sure I got to bed at a _remotely _decent time.

Walking in the kitchen, Tidus said, "Hey moms," then looked at my dad, "and dad! We're gonna run up to Shinra's for a little bit to meet up with Wakka and a couple of the guys from the team. I can drive Yuna home, if you'd like."

For some reason, I silently prayed that my parents would be okay with this and not tell me that I had to go home with them. It was nice that Tidus had his own car and was able to drive, yet I was afraid that my parents were going to pull the 'You know, Yuna, we don't like you to drive with anyone who hasn't had their license for 6 months yet!' stuff that they sometimes liked to.

However, my dad said, "Sure! Have fun!"

I must've given them the queerest look. That was way too easy. I wasn't about to question it, so I quickly grabbed my purse off the counter and said, "Okay, be home later! Bye!" I actually almost gave Tidus a little pull on his shirt so he would get the hint to rush to his car before they changed their mind or started to give Tidus a speech on what time to have me home, to drive safely, to not do any drugs or drink alcohol… so on and so forth.

Just as he was about to shut the door, I heard his mom say, "was Tidus wearing that shirt earlier?" Their conversation either turned to worrying about what we were doing, or they started to pick out yarn for baby booties after we left, I was pretty sure.

Once we got to his car, I let out a sigh of relief as I sat down. He put the keys in the ignition and chuckled at me. "You sound relieved. As if, you know, your parents would've told you that you couldn't go."

"It's not that..." I started, folding my hands in my lap and looking down at them. I couldn't lie to him. "Okay, it is that. It just proves that my parents trust you. My parents let me have fun, don't get me wrong, but I just don't usually go off without them asking a whole slew of questions. You know, 'who is going to be there,' and 'what time are you coming home?' Stuff like that."

He fixed his mirrors and backed out of the driveway, giving me a rather cocky smile. "I'm just that awesome and you know it."

If he wasn't my best friend, I probably would've been annoyed by the arrogance, but I played along. "Yes, that's exactly it."

We really didn't talk very much on the ride there, we just listened to the radio and I looked out to see more of the city. The previous day, I only could see the water and a few buildings around there, but we actually were going toward the center of town. "Whatcha looking at?"

"It's funny," I began with a breathy laugh. "Not much has really changed in Zanarkand. I still remember driving this way to the mall and, well… I really remember driving past A-East and being excited to start school there when we were freshman. I never expected to leave."

"What are you talking about? Yuna, you had dreams to go to Lady Yunalesca ever since you saw that ad on tv. You saw how pretty the girl was and how she was able to get a big girl job right out of college and you knew _then_ that you would go to Bevelle."

I had completely forgotten about that commercial, so I had to laugh. "Come on, Tidus. You know that I wanted to snuggle the chubby babies that the woman was holding more than wanting her big girl job. But you're right. I wanted to go to Lady Yunalesca for college since then. I just… I thought I was going to come right back to Zanarkand after that so I could have a family with my own chubby babies _here_."

Pulling into the parking lot of Shinra's, he shook his head in amusement. "There's nothing set in stone that says that you have to stay in Bevelle after you graduate college, Yuna. You _can _move back to Zanarkand and have babies you want to."

I couldn't even look at him as I said, "Yeah, I know that… but… the Praetor stays in Bevelle."

That was even hard for me to say because it obviously said that I was planning on marrying Baralai. Was I? I don't know. I couldn't see that far in the future and the future actually scared me because I didn't know what I wanted to do after college. I would just have to see how my relationship with Baralai progressed and take things from there.

When I looked over at Tidus, he was wearing a rather grim look on his face. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Thankfully as we parked, I saw a rather familiar face sitting on the back deck of the place, sitting next to a woman. I was unable to help myself bounce in my seat and point. "It's Wakka and Lulu!"

"They beat us here? I didn't think they would." We both got out of the car and when we got to the front door, the rather large bouncer asked for our IDs. I was rather surprised, but I got it out of my purse and showed him mine and he had to draw a big X on each of my hands.

The inside of the place was so full of cigarette smoke that it looked like there was a heavy fog after a rain storm in there. I had just gotten so used to Bevelle being smoke-free in public places ever since I moved there, I forgot what it was like to be in a restaurant with smoke. Tidus was right about one thing though; it was more like a bar than a restaurant. Perhaps at 4 or 5, there were more families in there, but now that it was reaching 9:30, I understood why there were bouncers at the door.

Thankfully, we were going outside to the back patio and there was fresh air. Somewhat. People were still smoking, but the smoke had somewhere to _go_ and it wasn't just marinating all the people inside. Spotting Lulu and Wakka again, I ran up to Wakka and gave him a hug.

I surprised him, and after half a second of wondering what just attacked him, he wrapped his arms around me. "Yuna!"

"Well! Look at what the chocobos dragged in!" Lulu said with an amused look. Lulu had moved to Zanarkand a year or two before I moved away, so while I knew _of _her, I never really talked to her. I had heard from Tidus that Wakka and Lulu hit it off great once we got into high school and had been dating since. They were cute together, I had to admit.

"Hi, Lulu," I said with an awkward wave. Lulu didn't seem like the 'hugging' type and I didn't know her that well. It did make me feel even more awkward because I hugged her boyfriend and just waved… oh well. I tried not to over think it.

Tidus and I sat down around the table and Wakka looked down at Tidus' hands. "Oh? You better be careful switching it up like that, brudda."

"Huh?" I asked, looking at the X marks on Tidus' hands. "Switching what up?"

With a dismissed wave, Tidus shrugged. "Nothing, don't worry about it. I'm plenty careful, Wakka."

I was confused. Before I was able to say anything else, the server walked over to our table and asked if we wanted anything to drink. I ordered a diet soda and Tidus just ordered 'a water for now,' then flipped through one of the menus on the tables. He couldn't be hungry again, so he must've been hiding something.

"How are things now that you're back, Yuna?" Lulu asked to break the silence, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Oh, great!" I wasn't lying, I did enjoy being back. "It's so beautiful here. I love Zanarkand. It's crazy that I didn't even realize how much I missed it until I returned after all these years."

Wakka gave Tidus a hearty pat on the back. "Better be careful saying things like that, Yuna, or else Tidus will tie you up to his back porch and never let you leave again."

Tidus didn't deny it. Instead, he flashed me a big grin. "Damn straight."

"Gaah, I don't want to think about leaving already!" I rested my elbows on the table. "I just got here and I think these few weeks are going to go fast enough without me dreading when I have to go home again!"

When the server came back, I took my drink and had a few sips of it as Wakka and Lulu ordered a couple appetizers. Tidus and I both didn't order anything, yet Wakka insisted that we help eat what they ordered. I was a little hungry from hardly eating dinner, but I couldn't help thinking about that pie that Tidus' mom made and we didn't eat.

Just as our conversation started up again, Wakka cleared his throat and interrupted, "Oh, hey! Tidus! Why don't you, ah, why don't you take Yuna to go play a round of darts while we're waiting for our appetizers to get here!"

I laughed, "oh you don't want me to attempt darts. Some poor person would get impaled with one of them, I guarantee it."

Tidus stood up so fast his legs hit the edge of the table and all of our drinks sloshed over the edges of the glasses. It didn't seem to faze him as he grabbed my arm and started to practically drag me into the bar area. "You don't have to be good, I'll teach you! Or pool! Whatever you'd like!"

"Sure…"

Wakka gave a wave to us and Lulu started to mop up the liquid with a couple of napkins. "Don't worry! We'll let you know when the food arrives!"

I wasn't worried about the food. I was worried about what I had seemed to _miss. _


	16. XVI

February 26, 2010. I'm happy I managed to finish this before March because I've been sitting on it for a while. I managed to pop out about 2,000 words RIGHT AWAY after I posted the last chapter... and then I got stuck. UGH. This chapter amuses me greatly though, and not gonna lie... I did laugh at all the same parts as I was editing and writing. Lol, I'm so lame, but Tidus amuses me. Anyway, here's chapter XVI.... Enjoy~!

**XVI**

You know, the _smart_ Tidus would've remembered that Saturday nights at Shinra's were what I liked to call, "The Night of the Bitches." Now, let me make this clear: I don't mean 'bitches' in the sense of being mean and cruel for no apparent reason, although Lenne and her minions did manage to accomplish that without trying too. Bitches are quite possibly the polar opposite of a girlfriend. Unlike a girlfriend or even a girl you are trying to hit on, you don't buy bitches flowers and chocolates because you care about them. You don't love bitches. Bitches don't snuggle. Most importantly, you definitely don't take bitches home to your mom. Bitches like to take random guys home to their cave, have their way with them, and then the poor schmuck tries his hardest to find his shoes in the dark so he can sneak out at 3am while the bitches (yes, it can be singular) is sleeping.

Sure, that sounds a lot more applicable to girls who are much older and have their own place, so that's why I refer to Lenne and her minions as "bitches in training." They went to Shinra's every Saturday to learn and observe from the more experienced bitches. That way, when they _did_ have their own place, they would know all the tricks of the trade and be full blown bitches. I had never seen Lenne go home with any random guy, and as far as I knew, I was the only guy she had ever slept with. Her friends were a completely different story all together.

Who knows, though. Perhaps a lot of it was just for show and the image. I just knew that I would never want to touch any of those cheerleaders or half the girls in Shinra's for that matter for the guys they flirted with were the definition of the word 'douche bag.' I'm talking about the flipped up collar, the hat turned slightly to the side, bottle of beer in one hand, wishing that they had a joint in the other, etc and so forth. Stereotypically, all the cheerleaders wanted to date the jocks… but that didn't seem to catch on at East High. The cheerleaders usually wanted to date the nearest DB that they ran into, except Lenne. She's the only one who really followed the rule of jock + cheerleader = OTP.

Lucky me.

Seeing Lenne's hair bobbing up and down as she danced with all of her girls near the pool table in crystal clear view of where Wakka, Lulu, Yuna, and I were sitting outside, I definitely needed to get Yuna out of sight. I had just told Yuna about Lenne and that was hard enough… I wasn't ready for their reunion just yet. Taking Yuna home already just five minutes after arriving didn't seem right either.

I was screwed.

Holding Yuna's forearm, I directed her through the sea of people to one of the dart boards. It was on the other side of the bar. Sounds great in theory, with the minor exception that the bar area was about the size of my kitchen and living room put together. Let me just say when I am standing right against the wall in my kitchen, I can _clearly _see the wall on the far end of my living room without trying.

"Okay, darts is a really easy game and all you really have to do is aim carefully," I said quickly, pulling Yuna directly in front of me and pressing my chest right against her back. I tried not to notice how my face was very close to her ear as I put my hand on her hip to keep her in place and put the darts in her hand.

I could practically feel the heat radiating off of her cheeks as she blushed. Or was I just feeling my own face blush? Either or, we were extremely close and it was the only thing I could think of to try to keep Yuna out of sight. It wasn't the first time I wished I was taller, but damn, it really would've helped hiding the girl.

"Ti-Tidus," she was starting to protest, but I couldn't have her look behind me and risk Lenne sighting her prey. Then again, _I _might've been her prey all the time… ugh.

"You'll be fine, Yuna." I lifted her hands with all the darts and started to help her aim, pausing for a second to take the two extra darts out of her hand so she only threw one. "Now, now, don't get too cocky and think you can throw all of them at once. For sure you'll hit someone."

It was quite hard to even joke with the girl while I was pressed up against her like I was, but I had to try to make everything feel as natural as possible.

"Her first weekend in town and you're already trying for second base in public, Ti?"

I winced and looked to my left, where Lenne was standing with a smug smile on her face. She didn't look… angry, per se. Jealous, yes. Angry? Well, maybe that was just hidden underneath that look of jealousy that she was definitely shooting Yuna. I didn't even get a chance to glance over at Yuna's expression because I was too busy trying to think of the right thing to say.

"I'm not trying for second base. I'm trying to teach her how to play darts correctly." Such a lame excuse and she laughed at me.

"Oh?" She gave Yuna a pat on the shoulder and leaned toward her. Yuna's face was completely blank so I couldn't read her at all. "You know, that's exactly what he said when before we had sex the first time. It's his way of foreplay."

It didn't even take her thirty seconds to already bring up us sleeping together. I kind of wanted to thank myself for telling Yuna earlier so it came out of my mouth first, but I just felt like such an asshole. If I could've done anything at the moment, it would've been to will the ground to open up and swallow me.

"Wow. That was… too much information," Yuna said, blinking a few times in shock.

"Well, it has been _fantastic _to see you, Lenne, but if you will excuse me, I'm trying to have a nice night with my friend." I realized my hand was still on Yuna's hip, so I pulled it back and crossed my arms. "I know that 'friend' is a word that is foreign to you, so why don't you take this time to scamper off and find the definition in a dictionary?"

"You are hi-la-ri-ous," she replied sarcastically, shaking her head with each syllable before taking a sip from the drink her hand.

Yuna raised an eyebrow. I couldn't tell if she was looking at the back of Lenne's hand or studying the drink, but she was clever enough to say, "you certainly don't look 21."

I knew what was coming.

Lenne pointed to her cleavage in her low cut shirt. "Sometimes it pays to have a rack like this to fool the bouncers." Taking another sip, she added, "Oh yeah, and a fake helps."

Yuna was right, Lenne didn't look anywhere near 21. She was… developed for a 16 year old girl and was wearing enough makeup to make a hooker envious, but she didn't look 21.

"Nice." Yuna was not impressed. However, she was still trying to be pleasant for some reason. I just wanted Lenne to disappear.

Then Lenne had to open her goddamn big mouth again. "Tidus' actually looks a lot more convincing than mine."

Shit.

Turning her head toward me, Yuna asked, "You have a fake I.D.?"

I was kind of surprised that she didn't figure it out when Wakka pointed to the black X marks on my hand. Yeah, it was rather risky to use my real I.D. sometimes and my fake at other times, but the bouncer at the door was one I hadn't seen before. I didn't want Yuna to wonder why I didn't have to have the black marks on my hand after I showed the I.D. She was a smart girl and would've figured it out and been disappointed in me for doing something so… so… well, okay, it _was_ stupid.

"Maybe?" I'm not sure why I said that, Lenne already outed me. Again, she didn't show expression even if I did deserve a disappointed look. Turning back to Lenne, _she_ looked satisfied. Her expression was a little sloppy since she was slightly drunk, but she looked satisfied nonetheless. "Like I said, it was fantastic seeing you, Lenne. Now leave."

"How rude." Turning to Yuna again, she let out a long sigh. "I haven't seen you in five years and now Tidus won't let us talk at all. Oh well. I'm sure I'll be seeing you at Wakka's on Friday?"

Yuna shrugged. "I haven't decided if I'm going to go yet."

"Oh, you _have _to go so we can catch up!" Lenne was really a terrible actress. I think she was trying to plead. I think. I really couldn't quite tell. "Just _think! _I can tell you all the little things that turn Tidus on!"

That was it. I was done. "Lenne, shut the fuck up and go back to your friends!"

"There you are!" I could've hugged Wakka for showing up, because if he hadn't, my anger would've spiked to the point of punching Lenne in her face. Perhaps Yuna would've done it first. Who knows? It would've been messy either way since I had two darts in my hand and Yuna had one. They were plastic tipped, yet I think I could've still done some damage with them if I wanted to. Thankfully, we didn't have to find out and Wakka put one arm around Yuna and the other around me, took the darts out of our hands and handed them to Lenne. "Sorry, Lenne, have a good night!"

I kind of expected Lenne to follow us and further the harassment because her simply leaving us be seemed too easy. I didn't even have to offer to buy her a drink or point to a shiny object for her to walk away. I looked over my shoulder and she threw the darts at the board, then turned on her heel toward the pool table where her friends were at. She didn't even seem too drunk, and believe me when I say that I have seen the girl completely obliterated. Half of the time, it was my fault that she got that way because I just wanted to get into her pants. Why else would I have helped the girl get a fake I.D.?

Maybe she didn't feel the need to say anything else because she _did_ enough damage with the things she already said. Maybe she felt that was enough.

I looked over at Yuna and I felt the sudden need to apologize for four hours straight. For everything. There _was _a lot about me that she didn't know and probably didn't _want _to know. Lenne giving her a hint pissed me off to no end and I couldn't imagine that Yuna appreciated it. I was her best friend… and before I told her about Lenne, she probably thought that I was still a virgin.

It might've seemed hypocritical to think that Yuna still was a virgin but I had to believe that she was. The thought of another man touching her just… didn't seem right. She was like my little sister! I had been there for her through thick and thin for ten years of her life and it was only instinct to want to protect her and see her in a clean light.

Not gonna lie and say it didn't make me curious and I wanted to find out, though. Was there a subtle way to ask someone if they were a virgin? I wasn't a complete idiot and I knew that now was most definitely _not _the time to ask. Maybe… in a few weeks if it didn't come up casually in conversation.

_Right. _Yuna talking so casualty about her virginity didn't seem likely. I could dream though.

We sat down at the table again and I let out a long sigh as I reached for a mozzarella stick. I really wasn't hungry at all. "So much for darts."

My humor wasn't appreciated and Yuna, Wakka, and Lulu gave me one of those 'that _so_ wasn't needed' glares, so I shoved the mozzarella stick in my mouth. Perhaps that would be enough to shut me up for once. Yuna looked down at her phone.

"I, ah…" She stood up and pointed over to the side of the deck. "I'm going to go make a phone call really quickly, I'll be back."

No one could even respond before she bolted off.

The second she was out of earshot, I rested my head on the table. "I feel like such an asshole!"

Wakka laughed and gave me a pat on the back. "Hmmm, happy that you gave her the full warning, ya?"

"Thank Yevon I did." I turned my head to look at them both. "You didn't know she was here tonight before you called me, did you?"

With a shrug of his shoulders, Wakka said, "No, brudda. I'm sorry, I didn't even think of how it was Bitches Night." See, Wakka knew the lingo too. "I just thought it would be a good idea for us to all go out and Shinras sounded like a good place to have a double date, if you will."

"Not a date," I replied quickly. I sat up straight and looked over at Yuna. Her back was facing us as she leaned against the railing and talked on the phone. "I'm not going to allow Yuna to go to your party on Friday, you know, and I'm sure it won't take a lot of convincing. There's not a chance that she's going to want to see Lenne again intentionally and I don't blame the girl."

Wincing, he asked, "did Lenne mention—"

"Took her a whole ten seconds." Both Lulu and Wakka shook their heads. They weren't surprised at all.

"Lenne… does like to mark her territory," Lulu pointed out the obvious. "It's no surprise that she mentioned something so quickly."

I let out a whine. "But I'm _not _her territory. I'm not her boyfriend. I will never be her boyfriend and she knows that."

"Oh?" Wakka tilted his head. "This sounds like a conversation that we had the other day, but again let me say that I don't think that Lenne believes that. You can think what you want but the signs are written all over her face. Why do you think she doesn't come to Shinras with any other guy? Or… leave with any other guy?"

Unable to help myself, I said, "maybe she's not as big of a whore as we all think she is?"

"Tidus," Lulu began, resting her forearm on the table and leaning toward me. "We all have to lay in the beds we've made. You're going to have to make this clear to Lenne or else she's going to do whatever she can to make Yuna's visit miserable. We all saw how you were when Yuna left for Bevelle and we also couldn't miss Hurricane Lenne rushing in to console you."

"There's a reason to why you were so hurt when Yuna left," Wakka added.

That confused me because I _knew _why I was hurt. "Yeah, because my best friend just moved halfway across Spira? That was what hurt."

Lulu and Wakka exchanged a glance and sighed.

"What?" I was lost.

Unfortunately, before we were able to say anything else, Yuna walked back over to the table. "Sorry about that. I had to give Rikku a call. She just wanted to make sure that everything was fine here in Zanarkand." She reached for her drink and continued to ramble on; something she did when she was nervous. "I'm a horrible friend. I haven't told anyone back home about how I arrived here safely or anything. I just arrived in town and started to unpack without thinking of my life back home. Horrible, huh?"

Thankfully, Wakka asked the question that I was dying to ask, "well, at least you called your boyfriend, right?"

She blushed. "Of course I did."

Yeah, of course she did. That was another sign that Lenne and I weren't dating. If I was to go on vacation to another city, I sure as hell wouldn't have called her and said, 'hey, I'm here and safe! Miss you, love you, kisses!' The thought alone made me want to gag. Yuna was a bit more sentimental than me, so it wasn't hard for me to imagine that was how her conversation with Baralai went the night before.

Oh well, good for her, I guess.

"So what are your plans for your vacation here, Yuna?" Lulu asked, thankfully diverting the topic away from anything 'significant other'-ish. Maybe Wakka was right and I should have a conversation with Lenne about how there wasn't a minute chance that we would ever amount to anything more than we were now.

She shrugged and rested her phone on the table in front of her. "Well, catching up with everyone is definitely one of the biggies. I also have to write a few papers and essays for colleges and whatnot, so I definitely need to make time for that in there…"

Not that I wasn't interested in what Yuna was saying, but my focus started to drift away from her. Instead, I noticed Lenne in the parking lot, arm in arm with some guy as they walked toward his car. The best part was how, right before she got into the car, she looked over at me and once she knew that I was watching, she smirked and waved.

Was that supposed to make me jealous? It… didn't? Not really? I wasn't sure and I couldn't tell. The only emotion I could feel was a little relief, like, maybe she would leave me alone now if she had a new boytoy while Yuna was in town.

And that made me feel pretty damn happy.


	17. XVII

June 22, 2010. Ooookay, sorry for the delay between chapters AGAIN. I've been working on this fic for over four years now and I feel awful when I have this many delays between chapters. This one I had a hard time with though... but then it ended up being almost 4,500 words. So I must've done something right? Lol, oh well... here you go, chapter XVII, now I must scamper off to work...

**XVII**

"You've been gone for longer than 48 hours and _nothing_?"

I hung my head in shame at Rikku's semi-lecturing. I had a feeling that was what the phone conversation was going to be like when I got her text message that said, "So um, it's been a while since you've come in contact with your boyfriend and now he's starting to think you ran off with some Zanarkand beach dude…" However, I thought it would be safe to talk to her first so I could find a good way to pussyfoot my way around the subject when I did call Baralai later.

"I just have been so busy and kind of wonky from the time change that I haven't had the time…" It was a lame excuse and I knew she tilted her head at me. "But I did promise myself that I would call him when I got home tonight no matter what time!" I crossed my fingers as a reminder to myself.

She sighed. "Don't worry, I don't judge you. I'm more or less just calling because Gippal was worried about his bff worrying." With a giggle she added, "So… _did _you run off with some beach dude?"

"What? No! I can't believe you would actually think that!" The second the words came out of my mouth, I realized that it _was _something that Rikku would think of and want to gossip about. If it wasn't for the fact that she always kept Gippal on her mind 24/7, she definitely would've ran off with every remotely attractive guy who laid eyes on her. She did love the gossip and the drama that came with new relationships, which, I believed, was the reason that she never claimed her 'relationship' with Gippal official. They've always said they were just friends, but they had that sparkle in their eyes every time they looked at each other. One day they would realize what it meant without me having to nudge Rikku and have her deny anything. "I've spent my time with Tidus."

"Oh?" The intonation of the word made it into a question, which bothered me in a sense.

So again I had to ask, "What?"

"Oh nothing."

"'Oh nothing?' There is a lot of 'something' hidden in your voice there, Miss Rikku." I looked over my shoulder to see Tidus with his head planted in the table for some unknown reason. Although I was pretty sure that reason had something to do with running into Lenne. "He's one of my oldest friends. All we've done is go on a walk last night and tonight our families had dinner together. It was something that happened at _least_ once a week while we lived next door to each other so that's nothing new. Now we're at some restaurant with some of his friends, so it's not like it's a date or anything."

She sighed. "Oh all right. It sounds like nothing."

I furrowed my eyebrows together. "You sound disappointed."

"Not disappointed," she said slowly, trying to think of the right words to say. "It would just be kind of romantic, you know? You go back to your hometown after five years, see that puberty did wonders for your old best friend, fall deeply in love, and live happily ever after!"

I looked back at Tidus again. Yeah, puberty did do some wonderful things to the awkwardly skinny boy that I used to know, but he was still Tidus. He was also slightly tainted because he had touched Lenne and that made me feel kind of nauseous. I could've lived a few more days without running into her in Zanarkand. "Sounds great out loud, I suppose, but those kinds of things only happen in cheesy romance novels and movies. This is real life, Rikku. Besides, I'm with Baralai and we're happy together."

"But… Luca is a long way away for four years…"

I had to interrupt. "Rikku, please stop. I don't know where you're going with this and I don't want to analyze it too deeply. If you're trying to say what I think you are, Zanarkand is a long way away as well." I didn't like the fact that she was basically telling me that Baralai and I weren't going to last the four years apart while we were at college. It wasn't like he was going to stay in Luca during summers and holidays!

She pouted. I could tell she did. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to make you angry." Then she sighed. "Okay, I need to get going 'cause Gippal and I are going to a movie in a little bit. Just… call 'Lai when you get a chance, okay?"

"I will, I will." Now it was my turn to let out a small sigh. The sigh was more or less because I was disappointed in myself that I have been ignoring Baralai's calls and texts over the past few days and I couldn't take four seconds to reply to him and let him know that I was safe and sound in Zanarkand. Rikku was the first one I actually contacted and that was because I didn't want Baralai getting any crazy ideas of what was going on. So, I guess the sigh was because I went to her before him.

We quickly said our goodbyes and I made my way back over to the table; smoothing out my shirt and hair as I walked. Wakka and Lulu were giving Tidus a rather blank stare and he looked confused, so I figured it was best not to ask what they were talking about. Probably much like the faceplant he was doing several minutes earlier, how we had a nice run in with Lenne and that wasn't something I wanted to delve into.

Instead, I started to ramble. "Sorry about that. I had to give Rikku a call. She just wanted to make sure that everything was fine here in Zanarkand." I reached for my drink. I was feeling rather parched and when all else failed about my nervous rambling, it would be something to shove into my mouth and shut me up. "I'm a horrible friend. I haven't told anyone back home about how I arrived here safely or anything. I just arrived in town and started to unpack without thinking of my life back home. Horrible, huh?"

Wakka reached for a mozzarella stick and asked, "well, at least you called your boyfriend, right?"

I blushed in embarrassment. I couldn't tell them that I was not only a horrible friend but I was _also _a horrible girlfriend by not even telling my boyfriend that I survived the trip to Zanarkand. Also, being there with Tidus as well as Wakka and Lulu? It made it feel as though it was almost a double date. I don't know why. Wakka, Tidus and I had been on countless adventures together throughout the years and Lulu joined us right before I left, but it never felt like this. Perhaps it was the way that Tidus was breathing into my ear while teaching me how to shoot darts correctly… Shaking the thought, I replied, "of course I did."

They all seemed to buy it and, honestly, they had no reason not to. A normal girl would've called their boyfriend. Tidus actually had a small look of annoyance on his face and I truly hoped it didn't say, 'heh, I would've called Lenne too.' I just didn't know and I didn't want to ask him about it. He did say that they weren't anything serious and he didn't really want anything out of her. Or… something like that.

"So what are your plans for your vacation here, Yuna?" I was so thankful that Lulu changed topics.

I put my phone in front of me so I could see the light blink if someone sent me a message (and if it was Baralai, I would've excused myself from the table to answer it this time) and shrugged my shoulders. "Well, catching up with everyone is definitely one of the biggies. I also have to write a few papers and essays for colleges and whatnot, so I definitely need to make time for that in there. In fact, I was thinking about visiting the Zanarkand library sometime to work without the distractions of the pretty landscaping of the beach."

I took another sip out of my soda to shut my big mouth again. It didn't take much to make me sound like a big nerd, but spending my summer vacation all holed up in a library to write essays? I definitely sounded lame when it came to two teenage boys who breathed blitzball.

"You know, I'm taking a summer class for college credit starting in a few weeks, so I could definitely go with you," Lulu said with a small smile.

"That would be fantastic! Thank you, Lulu!" I was about to open my mouth to say something about studying again, but Wakka gave the back of Tidus' head a hearty smack.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Tidus asked, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. He even brought his hand in front of his face to check for blood, which would've been ridiculous.

Wakka simply laughed. "Juuuust making sure that you were paying attention!"

"I am, I am, dammit!" He shook his head and looked back toward all of us again. "I'm sorry, I must just be tired or something. What time is it, anyway?"

I clicked a button on my phone so the display would light up with the time. "About quarter to 11." We had only been there for about an hour and fifteen minutes, but I was about ready to go back to the condo and just sleep off everything that had happened. It happened so quickly, yet I knew that Lenne saying she wanted to tell me all the little things that turned Tidus on was going to haunt my sleep for quite some time.

He was my best friend! I couldn't think of him naked! I mean, I had seen him without a shirt on, but it wasn't like I was trying to imagine the rest of him…

"Yuna, you're blushing."

I snapped out of my naughty thoughts and reached for my soda again. I took a sip. "Apparently 10:45 at night makes me blush, I apologize."

Wakka sat up straight. "Did anyone else feel a raindrop?"

Just as I was about to say 'I didn't feel anything,' I overheard the people at the other table mention something about it and my drink rippled. "Yummy. Rainwater in my diet soda. Love it."

As if on cue, the waitress came over to us and asked if we wanted to move to a table inside to escape the rain. We all exchanged glances and Tidus' look lingered on me. "What do you think? Wanna get out of here and go have some of my mom's pie?"

To the waitress, Wakka said, "Guess we're going to have some pie! Just the check, please." It was as if she knew we were going to come to that conclusion or something because she had the check already printed up and in the little black book that she handed him before walking away. Tidus and I both reached for our wallets. Knowing I had to reach into my purse and fish around the abyss to find it and all Tidus had to do was reach into his back pocket, he found his first and waved his other hand over mine. "Nah, I got it."

I didn't want to _protest. _I didn't want it to seem like a date either. Tidus did make it crystal clear that he wasn't dating Lenne (although I really believe she thought otherwise with the way she was basically claiming Tidus as her own) and I understood and respected that. It didn't change how Baralai _was _my boyfriend and I didn't want any misunderstandings about that. "Oh, come on, I have money too!"

He gave me a smirk and wiped his cheek where a raindrop fell. "No arguing or else we're going to melt in this rain. You can pay next time."

As I grabbed my phone and threw it in my purse before I zipped it up, I said, "I'm holding you to that." It wasn't even that big of a bill knowing that we split everything, it was just the concept. It wasn't a date. It really wasn't. I just wanted to make sure that _nothing _could be interpreted as date-like.

Wakka and Tidus split up the check and threw down some bills for the waitress before we all stood up and started to walk down the deck to our cars. Before we walked our own separate ways, Wakka said, "you kids have fun and be safe!"

It was starting to rain harder now and it made me remember how it rained nearly every day in Zanarkand, but only for about ten minutes and then was sunny and humid for the remainder of the day. It was refreshing, really. "You're not coming to get pie with us?"

He shook his head. "Naah, you go indulge. Lu and I will just go watch a movie or something." He turned to Lulu. "Sound good to you?"

"Sure," she replied with a nod.

I wasn't going to hug Wakka and give Lulu the awkward wave again like I did when I first saw them, so I just gave them both a small wave. "Have a good night!"

"You too!" They said in unison before they reached Wakka's car. I thought it was sweet how Wakka still opened the door for her, even though it was starting to pour, and they had been dating for quite some time. I thought most guys quit the gentlemanly duties after a few months of dating… it was nice to see that some guys were genuinely sweet through and through.

I barely had time to think of it before Tidus ran to my side of the car and opened _my _door for me. If it wasn't raining as hard as it was, I would've been surprised again, for this was the second time he opened the door for me. Baralai still opened doors for me when we drove somewhere, but we really didn't go out very often. Most of the time, we would… well… study. The past year he had to work really hard to get everything situated for going to college and I was thinking about it as well, so we would make some lemonade, maybe make cookies or something, then sit down and study for the rest of the night. Our relationship was very… safe.

And I guess many people would look on it as boring. It essentially was, yet it was something I think we both enjoyed. At least I know I did.

Watching the big raindrops fall on the windshield, I had to laugh a little bit. Tidus sat down in the driver's seat and looked at me… which made me laugh harder. His hair was all wet and plastered down on his forehead. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" He then shook his head to get rid of some of the water, much like a dog would shake himself after playing out in the rain. I let out a small scream as he managed to make me wetter than I was before. "Thanks a lot!"

"No problem!" Flashing me his trademark smirk, he reached into his back pocket for his keys. "I was wondering when it was going to rain today."

My hair was an absolute mess now from the rain and humidity. I prayed that it wasn't _too _horrible and left it the way it was because I rarely ever put it up in a ponytail. Keeping my hair up always made me have a headache for some reason, no matter how loose I kept it. Plus, it took me forever to get it to look the way I wanted it to earlier, so now it was going to stay the way that it was. "Another thing I forgot about Zanarkand; the rain every day."

"Not so much rain. It more or less monsoons." He backed up his car and had to keep the windshield wipers at full speed to be able to see for half a second at a time. Not going to lie, it made me pretty nervous to have him driving in this kind of weather. I just had to remind myself that he was used to it. "Well, by the time we get to my house, it should lessen up a little bit."

I shrugged. "We're already pretty wet, so it doesn't really matter, now does it?" He chuckled at that and he pulled out of the parking lot, keeping both hands on the wheel. I'm not sure if he did that for my benefit or not, nevertheless, I was quite thankful. It meant that he could get rid of his cool image for a small moment and keep us both safe.

"Sorry the rain had to cut our time with Wakka and Lulu so short," he apologized, though it wasn't really needed. It wasn't as though he could control the weather.

"Nah, don't worry about it." I kept my eyes plastered out the window to see what was going on as he put his rather wet phone in the cup holder. I really hated this weather, yet being such a control freak I felt as though I wanted to be behind the wheel. I probably would've been freaking out more than I already was, so perhaps it was better where I was sitting. I took off my sandals so I could let them and my feet dry a little bit before we got back to his house. "I was kind of looking forward to your mom's pie anyway."

His response was a simple nod, then it went quiet in the car for a few moments. I didn't say anything so he could concentrate because it looked like he was in full concentration mode. The weather really was getting worse and when I looked at his speedometer, he was going about 20 miles an hour and was still keeping up with traffic. Being so young when I left Zanarkand, I never really noticed _that_ part of the rains; how people drove so slowly. If I had been at the driving age, it probably would've been the first thing I noticed.

He made such a sharp turn that I had to grip onto the seat. "Whoa! Where are we going?"

"Well, there's only one thing to do when it's raining so hard!" He announced and I looked at him queerly. "Oh don't give me that look. Like you never played outside in the rain and jumped in all the puddles!"

"That was years ago when you would make me cry by pushing me in the puddles!" I was trying to catch my breath from the sudden turn still.

He laughed and took a hand off the wheel to give me a playful shove. "Yes, and then you would throw mud at me and our parents would scold us both for coming home all wet and muddy." We truly did have a wonderful friendship.

"Yeah, well you deserved it." We were both still laughing. "So, really, where are we going?"

"To the beach!"

My face was deadpanned. "Really?"

"Of course!" He truly wasn't joking because he parked his car and hopped out before I could even say another word.

"I…what?" I locked my door before he could try to open my car door for me. I was already wet, I didn't want to get absolutely soaked and explain to my mom what happened when I got home. He pulled up on the handle and when he saw it was locked, he unlocked it and pulled it open before I could relock it again. It didn't mean I had to get out of the car. "Oooooh, no you don't."

He pulled on my arm. "Come on, Yuna! Live a little! This is one of the best moments in Zanarkand! It's not a thunderstorm, so you don't have to worry about getting struck by lightning and it's _warm_ rain, so you don't have to worry about getting cold!"

"Yeah, but…" Before I could say another word, he reached over and unbuckled my seatbelt and picked me up princess style into the pouring rain. Perhaps I couldn't protest in the car any longer, but I sure could protest in his arms by kicking and screaming. "Tidus! Put me down! Oh Yevon, what are you doing? Put me down this instant or I'll—"

"You'll do what?" He asked, still laughing hysterically. "Tattle on me to my mom?"

"You never know! I just might!" That made him laugh harder, as well as myself. It was quite difficult to kick and scream when I was laughing so hard… I still managed though.

Unfortunately, he was rather strong and had a good hold on me. He had a rather adorable smile on his face and hummed a little tune as he shut the door with his backside, locked it up, and continued to walk toward the boardwalk with me still in his arms.

"You done throwing a temper tantrum now?" He asked through his laughter. "I'm not going to let you go back to the car now! You're already drenched!"

With a tired 'meh!' I threw my head back and stopped with the protesting. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I can't get any wetter, I think…"

"Oh?" He turned his lips into a perfect 'O.'

I hated when he did that. He was going to do something and I wasn't going to like it. That was something that hadn't changed in all the years I've known him. My look turned into one of fear. "What are you going to do?"

"Nooooothing! Oooh, I love it when you're scared like that though…" I didn't like the way he said that. It was…strange. Almost like it was turning him on or something and that wasn't what I was trying to do at all. "You know, even with all this rain, I can still see you blushing. Maybe you should cool down!"

Before I could ask him what he meant, he tossed me into the water. Yes. He threw me into the ocean without so much as a warning, although I really should've seen that one coming a million miles away. Luckily, the water was reasonably warm and I was able to recover quickly and pop back up to the surface… where he was laughing so hard tears were coming out of his eyes.

"Oh you are _so _lucky that my shoes and cell phone are still in the car!" I spit some of the ocean water that ended up in my mouth out and swam over to the edge of the boardwalk. The water there wasn't too deep, I could reach the bottom with my tippy toes which was all the leverage I would need, but I still pretended like I couldn't reach. "Come on, aren't you going to help me out of this water, you jerk?"

"I suppose I could." He wiped his eyes and leaned over to reach for my hands his one of his own…. Which I grabbed tightly and dragged him into the water as well.

When he came to the surface, he gave me such a surprised look… which made it all worth it. If he would've had a second to realize what I was doing, he could've held his ground, but that element of surprise caught him off guard. I swam closer to him and teased, "What's the matter, Tidus? Can't handle a dose of your own medicine?" He dunked my head under the water without so much of a thought, which I definitely deserved.

"Ha ha, you're so funny," he replied with a small splash of water toward my face.

I flinched and then wiped my face to get my hair out of it. The rain was still coming down in sheets all around us and it was … absolutely beautiful to see. "This is really cool."

"It's the best view when it rains! To be honest, it's my favorite thing about Zanarkand. There's rarely any lightning, so sometimes the guys and I come out here for a rainy game of blitz." He started to float on his back and let out a long sigh. "I'm really going to miss this when I go to Bevelle."

I realized I wasn't as great of a swimmer as I used to be, so I had to stand on my toes to give my arms a break. "Well, you know, Bevelle isn't all that bad. Sure the weather isn't as nice and if we get rain, 9 times out of 10 it's accompanied by lightning, but… I don't really mind Bevelle."

He wasn't convinced and I didn't blame him. At times like this when there was no one on the beach, the rain hitting the surface of the water, having the whole ocean to just the two of us? I felt such a sense of calmness and tranquility that I couldn't even put it into words. I didn't want the rain to stop or the night to come to an end.


	18. XVIII

**February 9, 2011. I can't believe how long it took me to finish this chapter... and i'm very embarrassed that it has been nearly 8 months since I last posted. Last year was an extremely horrible blur in my mind, but it's over now. I'm back to working two jobs though, so again, my life is kind of hectic and my muse has been nonexistent. I apologize to you all, but this chapter is a little bit longer than the past few have been. :) Well, I hope you enjoy. :D**

**XVIII**

It was the first time in a long time (if ever) where I was disappointed to see the rain start to slow down a little bit. It was still sprinkling, yet not at the same monsooning rate it was about ten minutes earlier. As I was floating on my back I could still see that the clouds, although moving rather quickly, weren't quite ready to let up yet and another bout of rain was sure to follow in just a little while. Again, as long as there wasn't a bolt of lightning across the sky, I wasn't going to get out of the water just yet.

Yuna was grunting a little bit, so I tilted my head just enough to not have ocean water go in my eyes to see what she was doing. I had to smile as I watched her attempt to float on her back like me. Key word there _really _was 'attempt' because she was having a hell of a time getting her feet to stay up and she more or less looked like she was flopping around and half drowning.

"I seem… to have lost my touch here," she said in the middle of an attempt, thus splashing me in the face as her arms flailed around. So much for not getting water in my eyes.

"I see this." I let my feet fall back to the ocean floor, wiped my face with my fingers, and I made my way over to her to give her a hand. "You don't even have shoes on, this should be easy!" She cupped her hand and skimmed it on the edge of the water to push water into my face after that remark… which I was thankful that my hands were still close enough to my face to protect my eyes from being _completely_ full of salt. I had a point though, and the smirk on my face showed her how entertained I truly was. I was so used to swimming with shoes on that it almost seemed odd to not have them on while in the water. Blitz seemed to bend all the rules of swimming and I had just become accustomed to them over the years.

She let her feet touch the ground again and bobbed up and down on her tippy toes. "It has been a very long time since I've been swimming, thank you very much."

"Okay, shorty, I can help you." She never used to be that much shorter than me, but now I seemed to be a good six inches taller than her. It was almost humorous, actually. I put one of my hands on her lower back and my other on her stomach to spot her, which seemed to have startled her for some reason or another. "On the count of three, gently push your feet against the bottom of the ocean and relax. I'll help you do the rest."

With a nod, she was just about ready to push off, but stopped and gave me a worried look. "You're not going to let me drown, are you?"

"If you don't trust me, I just might," I replied, giving her a pat on the back. I held her steady and said, "On the count of three." She nodded. "One, two, thr—"

Her hand shot up and pointed to the sky. "I just saw a shooting star!"

"What?" Her exclamation surprised me so much that I didn't even really hear the words.

"I just saw a shooting star!" She shook her wrist as she continued to point to the same section of the sky. "It was right over there! Did you see it? Did you see it!"

I knew it was too late and I missed it, but I removed my hands off of her and looked up at the sky regardless. "Um, not with an overcast sky, but I sure hope you made a wish to be able to float on your back!"

She clicked her tongue against her teeth a few times and I involuntarily cringed. I hated when people did that… mainly because that was what my mother did when she was about to scold me for something stupid or talk about something stupid that my father did. To me, those two categories were too closely related for my liking. I hated being grouped in with my father, even though it did happen quite a lot since I was a blitz player. It was almost a double edged sword because people then believed I had some form of talent if I was my father's son… until they remembered all of his drunken antics that ruined his chances of getting into the pro leagues. "No, I can't tell you my wish or else it won't come true."

I crossed my arms. "Well, I didn't see the star, so isn't there a special rule about that? A loophole or something?"

Tilting her head at me, she said, "of course not, silly. That's the best part about shooting stars; your wish stays between you and that star or else there isn't a chance of it coming true. It would just be a wasted wish if you shared it with someone."

"Sounds kind of childish," I stated, mainly because I just wanted to know what her wish was. Talk about being childish.

She uncrossed my arms and put my hands back on her stomach and back to spot her again. I think. Looking at me directly into my eyes, she smiled and said, "perhaps, but don't you wish everything remained in its childlike state of innocence?"

I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that statement; whether it be about the way my hands were on her or about all the wonderful things she heard out of Lenne's mouth today. I let my hands drop back to my side and decided that it was time to drop the subject all together. "Yes, I suppose. But, um, we probably should get going back to my house or else all the pie is going to be gone."

I figured that we would just have to have another swimming lesson before she left back for Bevellle. There were a ton of fun things to do in Zanarkand in the summer, but being in the water was a _must. _We made our way over to the ladder to the dock and I helped her climb up, then we walked back to my car without saying a word to each other. She was too quiet and I was beginning to think that the Lenne topic wasn't going to get out of her head anytime soon. Hell, every time I thought of the girl I ended up with a headache too, so I could totally relate to what Yuna was probably going through.

Pausing as I opened the car door for her, she said, "I'm going to get your car full of sand." She lifted up a very sandy foot and pointed at it.

I shrugged. "Yuna, it's Zanarkand. There is more sand than oxygen in this city, I believe. However…" I didn't want her to get my car sopping wet, so I went into my trunk where I kept a whole bunch of towels and blitz balls stored there in case I was in the middle of driving and I got a call from my team to play. I took one out and gave it a good shake to make sure that it wasn't full of dirt and sand before giving it to her. "You are kinda wet."

"Gee, who's fault is that?"

My mind went so far into the gutter that I actually believe I blushed. I certainly grinned like a damn idiot, but she was drying her hair with the towel and didn't see. Thank Yevon. After I quickly dried off my hair and legs, I stripped off my shirt and gave it a good wring to get most of the water out of it. When I got home, I would be able to hang it up in the laundry room, but for now, it was good enough.

Tossing my shirt and the towel in the backseat, I went into the car and put the keys in the ignition. She was giving me a queer and rather uncomfortable look as she sat down next to me, holding the towel on her lap.

"What?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't stepping over the line by driving the five seconds home without a shirt on. She practically already saw me change earlier, so I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Putting both hands on the wheel, I leaned toward her and offered, "if you feel left out, you could always take your shirt off too~"

She gave me a hearty smack on the shoulder. "I'm fine, thank you."

"Just thought I would offer…" We exchanged a smile and I added, "also, I was just trying to take a stab at guessing your wish. Am I right? Am I close? Did your wish come true?"

"Tidus!" She burst out into giggles and I figured that was a good time to actually start driving the car. If anything, I broke the ice a little bit and it wasn't as awkward anymore that I just got half naked in front of my best friend. She was sure to see me in a bathing suit several times over the summer, so really, what was the difference? I wasn't going to tell her that if she was in her bra that would be no different than a bathing suit (I didn't feel like getting slapped today), but the thought certainly did come to mind. It shouldn't have, but it did.

I also almost asked her if it was the first time she has seen a man half naked, but I figured that wouldn't be a good idea either. I couldn't imagine her and her boyfriend ever taking off any articles of clothing. Except socks. Probably socks. But something like shirts? Probably not.

It only took a few minutes to get back to my house and I was quite surprised to see Yuna's dad's car out of the driveway. It wasn't that late and I was sure that our moms would still be yakking away until the wee hours of the morning. I liked seeing my mom that happy though; it only seemed to happen when she talked to Yuna's mom or if summer vacation was starting.

"How much you wanna bet my dad went home to get some sleep and my mom is still here chatting it up with your mom?"

I let out a small laugh as I put the car in park. "Ha, I bet you're right." I grabbed my shirt and we walked to the front door, which was unlocked. Very odd for my mother to unlock the front door but she was probably expecting my father to stumble on home drunk and be unable to use a lock and key. Wouldn't have been the first time. Or the twentieth for that matter.

It only took about three seconds for us to hear the laughter of our mothers coming from the living room, proving Yuna's theory correct. "Told you!" She said with a beaming smile.

"Hey, I didn't doubt you." I smirked back at her and I poked my head around the corner where the ladies were drinking wine and laughing hysterically. My mom was one of those people who sniffed the cork of the wine bottle and got drunk, so I was wondering just how much she had. "Hi, moms. We're home!"

"Hi, welcome back… did you drag Yuna to play blitzball tonight or something?" Typical mother question when her son comes home dripping water all over the foyer. Yuna's mom raised an eyebrow as well.

At the same time as I said, "something like that," Yuna decided to say, "we got stuck in the rain." Neither was a lie and neither of our moms seemed the least bit surprised. It wasn't the first time we've came home dripping wet, although we usually had some kind of a guardian with us knowing we were ten the last time. My mom was used to it though; I think I came home drenched more often than not.

My mom put down the glass of wine in her hand and walked over to us, Yuna's mother close behind. Neither of them seemed to be stumbling at all and when I took a second glance at their glasses, they both had a significant amount left. They probably had a grand total of two sips between the two of them. "Tidus, go dry off and change. I'll get Yuna something to wear so we can get her out of those clothes. I don't want you two to catch a cold."

"Mom, it's a billion degrees outside," I said with a shrug. "We're not going to catch a cold."

"True, but you don't want our guest to be all wet and uncomfortable now, do you?" I didn't answer before she grabbed a towel out of the linen closet and handed it to Yuna. "I'm sure I have something for you to wear for a little bit…" She was nearly out of earshot when I heard her add, "Maybe you should keep a set of clothes here for the next time Tidus decides to throw you in the water, hmm?"

I exchanged a glance with Yuna's mom and we both smiled. My smile was probably bigger and she put her arm around me in a half hug. "Braska went home a little while ago to get ready for work stuff, so I was wondering if you'd be okay with driving Yuna and I back in a little bit?"

"No problem," I said, figuring that was what I was going to end up doing anyway. I didn't mind though. I could hear my mom talking to Yuna and asking her if whatever outfit she got her fit her all right and all of a sudden I grew very embarrassed that I was shirtless in front of Yuna's mom. I brought the poor girl back all wet and I was shirtless. It was innocent enough, but still, I was uncomfortable. "I'm going to go change so I don't get my mother's carpeting all wet. I hope you and mom didn't eat all the pie!"

"I think Braska left you both some, so don't worry about it," she replied as I started to bolt up the stairs.

"Thanks!" I went into my room and quickly found a wife beater and a pair of shorts before shedding off my wet clothes and drying off. Most of the time, I would just throw them over my chair and deal with them later, but since I was going downstairs anyway, I decided to be a good son and bring the clothes and the towel down into the laundry room after changing.

Both moms were still in my parent's room laughing, so I could only assume that they were trying to get Yuna into my mom's clothes. Even though my mom was a tiny woman, Yuna was a little smaller and I figured I had some time to go investigate the pie… which was still whole. I was very excited over that. More for me!

Humming a little tune, I grabbed a knife out of the drawer and put it over the pie and tried to gauge how big I should cut the pieces. After a few guesses, Yuna walked into the kitchen wearing a pair of my mom's pajamas. I stopped and, after a moment of thinking that she looked adorable as she sat down at the kitchen table, asked, "How big of a piece do you want? Little? Big? Or do you want me to just bring two forks and we can go to town?"

"Just a little piece, thanks."

"Okay." Since I liked my last option so much, I ignored her completely, picked up the dish, grabbed two forks out of the silverware drawer and plopped it down in front of her. "I don't think you have cooties anymore, so we can share."

"Of course I don't have cooties, but you still do." She dipped her finger in the whipped topping of the pie and smeared it across my nose. "You have something on your face."

I left it there because I knew it would bother her and started to get to work on that pie. "This pie is so amazing. I'm glad you came to visit. My mom only makes it for special occasions and I can't remember the last time she actually made the time to make it. Maybe for my birthday last year or something, but that's it."

After a second, she looked at me seriously. "So if I wasn't in town, what would you be doing on a Saturday night? You know… typically."

I had a feeling I knew what she was prying into, mainly because it seemed like everything we talked about that night revolved around Lenne. I swallowed the bit of pie in my mouth and then let out a short sigh. "I don't know. It really depends on what time the year it is. During blitz season, usually the guys and I get together and watch the game if it's a good one. If it's not? We usually play blitz. I don't know, my life is kind of redundant and nothing really changes a whole lot!" Before she could ask me to embellish, I asked the question back. "You?"

She reached over and wiped the whipped cream off my face with her finger. I knew it would bother her after a while. "I'm kind of boring. I'd usually be studying or hanging out with Baralai. Most of the time, both at the same time." She focused on the pie. "Isn't Saturday night like a designated date night or something?"

Resting my forearm on the table, I looked her dead on in the face. She was still looking down, but if she was going to look up, I knew we'd make eye contact and she would know I was sincere. "Don't listen to what Lenne said today."

She put her fork down and tilted her head to the side a little. "It's going to be difficult to forget what she said."

"Oh come on, Yuna." I took another bite out of the pie and chuckled at her. "That's exactly what she was trying to do. To get a rise out of you and make you angry the first day you were back in town in hopes that you would stay away from me. She just likes to exaggerate quite a bit about everything and try to 'one up' you. She's always done that and you know it."

She remained silent and I wasn't sure if she wanted me to shut up or continue. Thankfully she broke the silence. "What's the point of her trying to rub it in my face when I have a boyfriend and you and I are just friends?"

I opened my mouth and then shut it quickly. I didn't want to say anything that was direct to the point or make her embarrassed. I inhaled before I decided to just be straight with her. "She doesn't know that you have a boyfriend, I don't think, and well, um, like you said; Saturday is usually date night. You and I were there with Wakka and Lulu on your first weekend back and…"

"It looked like a double date," she finished with a nod.

So she saw it too. I was hoping she didn't look too deeply into me paying for our portion of the food or anything, I just couldn't see her paying. Isn't it a man's duty to pay even when a woman refuses? "I just want you to know that what I said earlier in the night, I really did mean."

"What's that?"

"That she and I have only been seeing each other for the past few months. Two, maybe three months max." I wasn't sure how brutally honest I wanted to be with her, but if it was all out in the open, we wouldn't ever have to have this conversation again. "And I do really use the phrase 'seeing each other' loosely. It was kind of an image thing at school so I played it off as more than it was. We really didn't see each other that often outside of school because I never wanted my parents to get to know her or think that there was more going on. The only date we've ever actually been on was prom this year and that's it." I should've stopped and not go one step further, yet I did anyway. I lowered my voice and said, "I don't want you to think that I sleep around. Lenne's… the only girl I've ever slept with."

She blushed at hearing that and I sort of regretted telling her. "Why are you telling me this?"

I didn't want to tell her but with the way Lenne was talking to her earlier at Shinras, who know what _she _was going to tell Yuna when they ran into each other again. I could try to avoid them running into each other as much as I wanted, but they were going to see each other at the beach or at a get together or something. It was just bound to happen. Again, I told her the truth. "You're my best friend, Yuna. Aren't you supposed to know everything about me?"

"Um…" She started and laughed nervously. "I don't know if I'm suppose to know _that _much about you."

I nudged at her fork with mine so she would continue eating and not lose her appetite again. "I'm not asking for you to share the same information with me about you. I just know that some things travel like wildfire and for some reason, everyone likes to gossip about the captain of the blitz team and the captain of the cheerleaders. People talk."

"I know they do." She humored me and picked up her fork again. "I just don't want to be afraid of running into her all summer. It makes me feel like I'm back in elementary school, praying that she and I wouldn't end up in the same class again that year and yet… every year we were on the same roster and I would cry." She let out another long sigh. "Tidus, I don't want to go to Wakka's on Friday."

"I never said you had to," I said with a huge sense of relief. I didn't _want _her to go. Lenne with more alcohol in her system than tonight and sober Yuna really wasn't going to be a good mix. I didn't want to play mediator all night. I just wasn't sure if that meant that _I _was staying at home Friday night or going to the party. That was a decision I would make later and leave it vague to her for now. "Now come on, eat some more pie."

She stuck the fork in the middle of the pie and dug out a decent sized bite. "You'll explain to Wakka why I'm not there, right?"

I nodded. "Of course. I'm sure he will understand more than you think he will. He's a pretty intuitive guy and can read people." Thinking about that for a second, I continued with, "it's rather amazing and annoying all at the same time."

"That reminds me," she licked her fork before she continued. "I don't want you to think that you need to entertain me this summer. I want to see you, yes, but please don't put your life on hold on while I'm here."

She had a little bit of chocolate on her upper lip, so I stood up to grab a few napkins. "I don't see it as putting my life on hold at all." She tilted her head toward me, so I leaned over and got down to eye level. By seeing her, I wasn't putting my life on hold. That was the truth.

Was I thinking about saying something else? Of course I was. Was I going to say it? Absolutely not. As I looked into her eyes, I could tell she was waiting for me to continue, but it was just a better idea to keep the words inside. I missed my friend and I liked having her back and if I said that, she might take it completely the wrong way or really look into it and I didn't want that. Instead, I handed her a napkin, said, "Here you go," then went back to my seat.

I just knew that it was going to be short lived and every time I thought about it, it really sucked. She was going to go back to Bevelle and life would go on back to the way that it had; her with her life, me with mine. She was going to get back to focusing on her studies and I was going to get back to focusing on blitz and trying to get a great scholarship. I felt kind of selfish that I wanted this summer to be like the ones that we had before she went away and I didn't want her to know that for some reason.

For now, I knew, and that was enough.


End file.
